LAKE ZURICH BAR OWNER ARRESTED ON PERJURY CHARGE
Thursday, Febuary 18, 2010 — A Lake Zurich man is free on $10,000 bond after an investigation found he lied under oath about his history of drunken driving arrests, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced Thursday.
Bradley Baldino, 38, is charged with perjury, a felony. He was arrested Wednesday night while he was sitting at the bar at Lake Zurich’s Scoreboard Bar and Grill, which he told officers he owns. Cook County Sheriff’s Police investigators opened an investigation after receiving a complaint from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office about testimony Baldino gave during a bench trial last year.
Baldino was facing a DUI and reckless driving charge after being arrested by South Barrington police in May 2009. A South Barrington officer saw Baldino driving erratically around 3 a.m. on Barrington Road and Covered Bridge Road, just before Baldino turned too fast and crashed into a tree, reports show.
The officer noted Baldino appeared confused, smelled of alcohol and failed field sobriety tests, reports show, but Baldino refused to take a breath test.
During his December trial at the Rolling Meadows courthouse, Cook County Judge Ellen Mandeltort asked Baldino “Have you ever been arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or any alcohol-related charges anywhere in the United States?”
Baldino replied “no,” according to court transcripts. “Are you sure?” she followed. “Yes,” he replied.
At that trial, Baldino was convicted of reckless driving, but not DUI. He was sentenced to one year of conditional discharge and a $1,000 fine.
But his sworn testimony led the State’s Attorney’s office to request a sheriff’s investigation. That inquiry found Baldino had been convicted in 2006 of driving under the influence in California. Records also show he had been convicted of driving under the influence in Lake County, Illinois in 2008.
Baldino denied he was the person arrested in California, but the name, home address, arrest photo and fingerprints from that incident matched those filed here.
Baldino appeared in Rolling Meadows bond court Thursday and bond was set at $10,000. His father posted 10 percent of that and Baldino was released.
