The former Reditus Labs CEO at the center of a flurry of federal fraud cases and lawsuits has been indicted for allegedly possessing contraband as an inmate at the Peoria County Jail.
The indictment naming Aaron Rossi was filed Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois. It alleges the 41-year-old former entrepreneur was found in possession of a battery, vape pen and K2, a Schedule 1 controlled substance.
K2, also called “spice,” is a synthetic cannabinoid, a designer drug made to mimic the effect of marijuana. The drug was legal in Illinois until 2012 and often sold at gas stations and convenience stores as “herbal incense” or “potpourri.”
All three items are prohibited objects.
Under federal law, Rossi could face up to 10 years in prison for possessing contraband, if convicted.
Last week, Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins said an internal investigation led to the arrest of 24-year-old correctional officer Ezekiel Hidden, who is charged with official misconduct and bringing contraband into a penal institution. Authorities said the investigation determined Hidden received money to bring in a “cannabis vape pen” on several occasions.
Watkins has not said the incidents are directly related.
Rossi received a five-year sentence in federal prison after pleading guilty to mail and tax fraud in June 2024. Those charges were related to misconduct from his employment at Central Illinois Orthopedic Surgery in Bloomington, prior to his role as CEO of Reditus Labs.
It is unclear why Rossi remained in the Peoria County Jail, instead of moving to a federal prison. But he faces additional federal charges that are pending.
A federal indictment in June 2024 accused Rossi of defrauding the state of Illinois and various health insurance companies out of hundreds of thousands of dollars through COVID-19 testing fraud at his Pekin-based Reditus pathology lab.
Reditus dissolved in 2022 after Rossi became the subject of various lawsuits from former business partners who alleged sweeping mismanagement of Reditus funds. Rossi was accused of using company funds for private jets and luxury cars.
After the federal tax fraud indictments against Rossi, the lab lost an Illinois Department of Public Health contract operating a testing site in Bloomington.
A trial date for the contraband charges is scheduled for May.
