Former Cook County Judge Patricia Martin returned to a Cook County courthouse last week to face criminal charges accusing her of stealing several hundred thousand dollars from the last-known surviving member of the famed Tuskegee Airmen.
Martin appeared at the courthouse in Bridgeview on Friday, where she faces seven felony counts for allegedly taking more than $100,000 from the financial accounts of Oscar Wilkerson Jr.
She is accused of doing so over two years, starting when Martin was given control of Wilkerson’s finances when the nonagenarian World War II veteran moved into a nursing home in Orland Park in 2020.
Martin — who was head of the child protection division of the Cook County Juvenile Court system until she retired from the bench in 2020 — is the niece of Wilkerson’s former wife.
Wilkerson, the last known member of the trailblazing all-Black Tuskegee aviators, died in February, a day before his 97th birthday.
Martin wasn’t arraigned Friday because her case will be assigned to a judge from outside Cook County, according to her attorney Michael Leonard. Martin now lives in Missouri and was allowed to return to the state, according to court records.
Martin, who has been disbarred and faces a $1.2 million civil judgment over the alleged theft from Wilkerson, plans to fight the criminal charges, her lawyer said.
“She’s definitely looking to defend herself vigorously,” Leonard said. “She’s a wonderful person with an unbelievably positive reputation, and we expect that all to come out in these proceedings.”
The indictment, handed up Nov. 9, includes charges of theft, money-laundering, financial exploitation of an elderly person and running a continuing criminal enterprise. Prosecutors say Martin took money from Wilkerson’s accounts and used it to buy cryptocurrency.
According to a civil lawsuit filed against Martin before Wilkerson’s death, Martin stole more than $380,000 from him, with Wilkerson learning the money was missing when he got a bill for $40,000 in unpaid fees from his nursing home.
Lawyers for Wilkerson said Martin drained his bank and retirement accounts and repeatedly accessed the accounts even after a judge ordered her not to do so. That judge entered the $1.2 million judgement against Martin in May and urged Wilkerson’s attorneys to seek criminal contempt charges against Martin.
The day after the judgment, the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission filed a disciplinary complaint against Martin. Martin gave up her license, acknowledging that the accusations would be proved.
