CHICAGO -- An employee in the Illinois Secretary of State's office was charged with shaking down motorists who wanted their suspended licenses reinstated, federal officials said Tuesday, bringing to 68 the number of people charged in a federal corruption investigation.

John McGowan, 34, is charged with pocketing $800 in bribes over the past three months as an executive assistant in the office of Secretary of State Jesse White. Motorists paid McGowan hundreds of dollars to get their licenses back, even though some were eligible to have the licenses reinstated for free or a nominal fee, agents said.

Two cooperating witnesses secretly recorded conversations with McGowan in late December and January discussing payoffs, according to an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint.

McGowan was released on his own recognizance Tuesday. A message left at the Federal Defenders Office for his attorney, Gabe Plotkin, was not immediately returned.

A spokesman for White, David Druker, emphasized the office had cooperated in the probe and turned up the initial evidence given to federal prosecutors.

Much of the corruption scandal, which has been under federal investigation for six years, took place when former Gov. George Ryan was secretary of state. McGowan, however, was hired as a $45,864-a-year executive assistant after White became secretary of state in 1999.

Druker said McGowan was hired partly as a favor to his mother, Metropolitan Water Reclamation District Commissioner Barbara McGowan, but also because he was qualified for the post. McGowan is now on unpaid leave.

Critics of the secretary of state's office have said the office is beset by a "culture of corruption" that has existed for decades.

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