As
it has been widely reported, the Village Treasurer was arrested last week by
the Steger Police Department for possession of a controlled
substance. After receiving this information, I directed the Village
Administrator to take a number of steps to ensure the safety of Village
funds.
First, I directed the Village Administrator to place the
Village Treasurer on paid leave pending further information on his
arrest. Secondly, I directed the Treasurer have no access to the Village
Hall and to change the locks to the Treasurer’s office. Thirdly, I asked
staff to contact all financial institutions that the Treasurer had signature
cards and/or access to accounts with, and to put a freeze on the Treasurer’s
signature authority on those accounts and access to those accounts.
Fourth, I directed Village staff do a cursory review of village funds to
determine if there had been any misappropriation of Village funds by the
Treasurer.
As of right now we are not aware of any Village funds that
have been misappropriated by the Treasurer. We are continuing our
investigation and will let you know if we find any Village funds have been
misappropriated.
Staff
also reviewed some of the Police Pension fund financial records. This
review revealed possible misappropriation of Pension Board funds by the
Treasurer. Upon learning this we contacted a number of
investigative agencies, including the US Attorney’s office, the FDIC, the FBI
and Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. This matter is now being
investigated by the FBI.
As you know, the Police Pension Fund is a
separate entity from the Village of Sauk Village. The Pension Fund has
its own Board members, attorneys, accountants and financial advisors, who are
responsible for the safe keeping of money held by the Pension Fund.
On January 11, 2016, the Police Pension Board held a special meeting to go
over the issues the Village uncovered.
I
want to ensure the public that we are thoroughly investigating this matter and
fully cooperating with the FBI. Again, no Village funds have been found
to be missing or misappropriated. Because this is an open and ongoing
investigation we have been instructed not to discuss this matter further.
The investigative agencies will advise us what they have found and what action
will be taken.