Federal court filing seeks to bar Dolton from buying pope’s boyhood home
By Mike Nolan | mnolan@southtownstar.com | Daily Southtown
UPDATED: June 16, 2025 at 3:12 PM CDT | LINK TO ARTICLE
A former Dolton village employee is trying to block the village from using taxpayer money to acquire the childhood home of Robert Prevost, now Pope Leo XIV.
Lavell Redmond, who has an ongoing lawsuit against Dolton alleging wrongful termination in 2022, is asking a federal judge for a temporary restraining order.
The motion, filed Sunday, alleges the village, in seeking to buy the home, is engaging in an “endeavor with substantial cost to taxpayers with no compelling governmental necessity.”
Mayor Jason House has said the village may attempt to acquire the home through negotiations with the owner, and has also raised the possibility of using eminent domain and going to court to gain ownership of the house at 212 E. 141st Place.
At the same time, an auction firm is taking offers for the home, with a closing of bids at 4 p.m. Chicago time Wednesday. A reserve price of $250,000 was set for the home.
Steve Budzik, a real estate broker representing the home’s owner, said Monday the owner is open to a sale while at the same time considering bids being submitted through the auction house, Paramount Realty USA.
“Within the next couple of days we will have to see how this auction turns out and which direction the seller will go,” Budzik said.
He said the owner of the home and auction house were not disclosing information about the level of activity or number of bids received so far.
Redmond’s motion states he isn’t trying to block the auction from proceeding or a possible private sale of the home, but just the village’s involvement.
A hearing on his request for a restraining order is scheduled for Wednesday morning before U.S. District Judge Mary Rowland.
“This is about responsible governance and financial integrity,” said Matthew Custardo, an attorney representing Redmond, in a news release Monday announcing the court filing. “Taxpayers deserve leadership that prioritizes obligations — not optics. Pay your bills before you buy trophies.”
Prevost lived in the home from his birth in 1955, and his parents lived there until they sold it in 1996. Since Prevost was named the leader of the Roman Catholic Church May 8, the house has drawn significant interest from onlookers, prompting Dolton officials to station a police car on the block.
Dolton officials have not discussed a potential acquisition of the pope’s home during an open Village Board meeting, nor have they cited the property acquisition exception to the Open Meetings Act in any closed sessions they have held. But village attorney Burt Oldeson said trustees are willing to expend village funds to get their hands on it.
Redmond said, in the Sunday filing, that Dolton “is in severe financial distress, running large deficits while drowning in liabilities” including pending court decisions and unpaid vendor bills.
The filing says it is “fiscally irresponsible for the village to divert any money” toward making what was called “a novelty real estate purchase.”
In his federal lawsuit filed after he was fired from his village job, Redmond alleges his First Amendment right to free speech was violated and that he was wrongfully fired from his job. Redmond worked as a code enforcement officer and also volunteered to work on the mayoral campaign of Tiffany Henyard, ousted after one term in office by Jason House.
Redmond’s lawsuit alleges he was fired by Henyard after talking with Daily Southtown columnist Ted Slowik in early August 2022. The column included information about Redmond’s hiring by Dolton, which triggered a firestorm of controversy because of his status as a registered sex offender, stemming from a crime for which he served 24 years in prison.
Redmond said he was fired immediately after the Southtown attempted to contact Henyard for comment on the story. The lawsuit was filed in 2023.
Redmond also has a pending federal lawsuit stemming from a brawl that erupted at a Thornton Township Board meeting.
The Dolton home was bought last year by Homer Glen-based rehabber Pawel Radzik for $66,000, and he told the Chicago Tribune that most of the home had been updated extensively since.
Pawel listed it in January for $219,000 before cutting his asking price to $205,000 later that month and then to $199,900 in February.
With the news in May that the new pontiff had spent many years of his youth living in the 141st Place home, the home was taken off the market, with the auction plans announced last month.
Should any negotiations between Dolton and the owner separate from the auction break down, House has said they may use eminent domain, where a court ultimately could determine the amount that the village would have to pay,
The lineage of the home prompted the owner to take it off the market, because the connection with Pope Leo threw a wrench into figuring out a potential value, Budzik said last month.
In the complaint for a restraining order, filed Sunday, Custardo said his client is unemployed and has “remained largely without income” since his termination by the village.
The filing said Redmond has been looking for a financial settlement but that the village has said, in and out of court, that Dolton is in dire financial condition and faces massive settlements from lawsuits.
A message left Monday with the village’s law firm seeking comment was not immediately returned.
The village’s pursuit “of a symbolic property while claiming indigency in court proceedings is not only hypocritical but risks irreparable harm by further depleting funds that may be necessary for judment satisfaction or service continuity,” the filing alleges.