Restaurant Owner Hoping for Pardon

George Alpogianis, owner of , was elected as a Niles trustee in 2009 but prevented from serving his term and is now hoping for a pardon from Gov. Pat Quinn.

Earlier this month, Quinn pardoned 75 people and denied pardons to 131 others, but Alpogianis' name was not on either list. That most likely means the governor has not reviewed his case yet, Alpogianis said. Quinn is working through a backlog of requests.

Alpogianis traveled to Springfield last January to request a pardon from the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, the body which advises the governor on such matters. Niles Mayor Robert Callero, his brother Jim Callero and Rev. Chris Kerkeres of  went with Alpogianis to testify to his good character. Alpogianis also brought his parents, his wife and 55 letters of support from "some pretty good people" to plead for a pardon on his behalf.

Earlier: 

"They ask for your story. They want to know if you were remorseful," said Alpogianis, who today leads the Cub Scout and Boy Scout troops at St. Haralambos and is active in several charitable causes, including the Niles Sister Cities Committee.

The pardon would erase from Alpogianis' record two incidents that happened when he had just turned 18. In the first, Alpogianis, now in his 40s, was caught with a group of teens who had broken some windows. In the second, he was caught with a group in which a fight had broken out and charged with aggravated battery. The incident left him in the hospital with 27 stitches.

"People pointed fingers and we wound up with the short end of the stick," remembers Alpogianis.

Cook County prosecutors told him the incident, though charged as a felony, would be converted to a misdemeanor after he served his probation. But county officials told him in 2009 that they couldn't find a record of that.

"It was the 1980s, everything was on paper, things got misplaced," Alpogianis said. "From what I know, the piece of paper got lost."

If the pardon came through and the record of the conviction were expunged, Alpogianis would then be eligible to serve as an elected official.

He's hopeful that will happen, saying that testifying before the Board of Prison Review went well.

"I had a good feeling for it. The governor's moving on it--I'm sure when the time is right, then it'll happen," Alpogianis commented.