|
ILLINOIS
STATE POLICE AUDIT SHOWS $2.3 MILLION WENT MISSING
Illinois Policy Institute/
Vincent Caruso
Illinois State Police are facing audits
showing $2.3 million is missing as lawmakers seek answers about old
computers and late firearms IDs. Also, lawsuits and an indictment
outline theft and sex harassment claims at the agency managing troopers.
|
|
 New audits and an indictment from
Sangamon County reveal recurring instances of financial mismanagement within the
Illinois State Police.
State Police couldn’t provide a purpose for $2.3 million in unknown activity in
a review of compliance audits reviewed Dec. 9 by the Legislative Audit
Commission. There were 32 adverse findings, including auditors’ inability to
find 92% of the equipment they sought including items containing confidential
information.
ISP director Brendan Kelly pointed to staffing issues as the cause. State Rep.
Fred Crespo, D-Hoffman Estates, said the solution is rearranging agency duties
such as investigating Medicaid fraud.
“Move those responsibilities from the state police over to the [Attorney
General’s] office with the hopes that you can get more people to do the work
that you need to be done in your department,” Crespo said.
State Rep. Mark Batinick, R-Plainfield, said he noticed ISP computers were
equipped with Windows 7, which was released in 2009. Findings also showed agency
manuals haven’t been updated since 2000.
Additionally, the ISP website experienced a data breach of gun owner ID
information for over 2,000 Illinoisans. The breach came after the audit was
concluded.
State Sen. Chapin Rose, R-Mahomet, highlighted the widespread delays for Firearm
Owner’s Identification cards. He said 87% of FOID applicants experienced delays,
some of up to a year.
Rose said there exists a double standard between constituents and troopers.
“If a trooper pulls them over on the streets, they’re expected to answer that
ticket in compliance with the law,” Rose said. “But then the same agency that’s
expecting the citizen to follow the traffic laws isn’t following its own law in
response to the timeline of issuing FOID and [Concealed Carry Licenses].”
[to top of second column] |
Simultaneously, the
Merit Board that oversees trooper personnel matters is at the center
of a legal battle between former Director Jack Garcia and Jenny
Thornley, former Board CFO and personnel director.
Thornley originally sued Garcia for sexual harassment and assault in
the spring and alleged the Merit Board terminated her because of the
accusations.
Garcia is countersuing Thornley in federal court, claiming she made
false sexual assault claims and used her ties to Gov. J.B. Pritzker
to remove Garcia.
Thornley is currently under indictment on charges made by Garcia
that she falsified payroll records to include overtime hours she
never worked, allegedly forging Garcia’s signature on payroll
documents.
“… This litigation is not about sexual assault or sexual
harassment,” Garcia wrote. “Instead, it is about the discovery of
Plaintiff Jenny Thornley’s ongoing scheme to defraud the State of
tens of thousands of dollars.”
Garcia claimed the sexual assault accusation was retaliation to
prevent Thornley from being terminated for falsifying payroll
records.
Thornley claims the opposite happened: that Garcia only reported her
for false overtime because he sexually harassed her.
When the Merit Board heard both sides of the story, they brought in
an outside investigator who found no evidence of Thornley’s claims.
That lead to her indictment and termination.
Thornley asserts the investigation was a sham conducted by Garcia’s
allies. She’s asking the court to order the defendants to pay her
unspecified damages, back pay, interest and attorney fees.
Thornley hasn’t responded to Garcia’s counterclaim, and a federal
judge has given her until Jan. 18 to do so.
 |
