A routine traffic stop near O’Hare International Airport led to the seizure of $800,000 in counterfeit U.S. savings bonds, blank FBI credentials, a U.S. Marshal Service star and a Department of Homeland Security Investigations shield.
Robert Krilich Jr. was taken into custody after his car was stopped in Rosemont last week and was charged with possession of forged and counterfeit documents with intent to defraud.
Krilich was driving south on River Road when police stopped him because he had no visible license plate, according to a federal complaint. Krilich told officers he had just returned from Las Vegas and had picked up his car from the airport parking lot. Someone must have stolen his license plates, he said.
But the officers noticed that a blank piece of white paper was actually covering the license plate, the complaint states. The officers ran the plate and discovered Krilich was wanted on a warrant for fraud.
A search of the car turned up $24,873 in cash, five glass pipes with a white powdery residue believed to be from narcotics, about three dozen sheets of counterfeit U.S. savings bonds in folders in the trunk, blank FBI credentials, a silver U.S. Marshal Service star and a gold and blue Department of Homeland Security Investigations shield, the complaint states.
Shortly after he was taken into custody, Krilich complained of chest pains and was taken to Resurrection Medical Center, then released to authorities that evening.
Krilich has a history of arrests for fraud going back nearly 30 years.
In 1995, he pleaded guilty to federal bank fraud for a $81,000 check-writing scheme. He also admitted obtaining almost $1.5 million in other frauds.
Last year, he was accused of scamming a Des Plaines bank out of more than $20,000 after depositing two savings bonds that were bogus, according to police.
Krilich’s father, Robert Sr., a developer who built projects all over the Chicago area, is awaiting trial on racketeering, bribery, bank fraud and tax charges.
His father, developer Robert Krilich Sr. was found guilty in 1995 of bribing Oakbrook Terrace officials for seven years so they would support a building project. The bribes included a hole-in-one contest at a 1985 charity golf outing that was staged so that the son of former Oakbrook Terrace Mayor Richard Sarallo won a 1930 Cadillac.
Krilich Jr. was ordered detained at the Metropolitan Correctional Center.
