RED BUD, Ill. (AP) — A former mayor in southwest Illinois has become the second area mayor to plead guilty to lying to federal agents investigating an illegal business arrangement between the two.

Former Red Bud Mayor Tim Lowry, who entered his plea on Friday, faces up to five years in federal prison when he returns to court for sentencing on Nov. 22.

The Belleville News-Democrat reports investigators concluded that Lowry and the insurance company he worked for paid former Columbia Mayor Kevin Hutchinson nearly $16,000 in “referral commission” for recommending Lowry’s insurance company as carrier of Columbia’s casualty loss and workers compensation policies. Lowry didn’t return a message Sunday.