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| Brian Towne |
A
grand jury in LaSalle County, Illinois, returned a 17-count indictment
on Tuesday night accusing Brian Towne of official misconduct and
misappropriating public funds while in office. Towne had been the
state's attorney there for a decade until he lost a re-election bid in
November.
After losing
the election, Towne quickly found a job as a special prosecutor at the
Illinois Office of the State's Attorney Appellate Prosecutor. He had
chaired the agency's board and taught classes at its continuing legal
education conferences.
One of his first assignments was to
investigate a perjury complaint arising from the wrongful conviction of
Jack Daniel McCullough for the 1957 kidnapping and murder of Maria
Ridulph. The case was featured in CNN's 2013 series "Taken," which raised doubts about whether McCullough had received a fair trial.
Towne stepped aside from the perjury investigation in March after CNN reported he was under scrutiny for how money was spent from an asset forfeiture fund he created.
The
fund was generated from property and cash seized by a drug interdiction
unit of mostly retired Illinois state troopers authorized by Towne to
stop and search "suspicious" vehicles with cannabis-sniffing dogs along
Interstate 80. If marijuana was found, police confiscated the vehicle
and its contents.
Towne launched
the unit and fund in 2011 during his tenure as the state's attorney.
Court records indicate Towne's team, dubbed SAFE for State's Attorney's
Felony Enforcement, brought in $1.2 million between 2011 and 2016.
Neither Towne nor his lawyer responded
to requests this week for comment. But in an earlier conversation with
CNN, Towne denied wrongdoing and expressed confidence he would prevail
in court. He talked with a local newspaper on Tuesday evening, just
after the indictment was filed.
He said the indictment was orchestrated by his political opponents.
"This is clearly an abuse of power and dirty politics at its worst," he told the LaSalle News-Tribune, adding that the situation was "completely unacceptable."
"I simply ask the people of La Salle County to reserve judgment until this case is resolved appropriately."
According
to the indictment, Towne allegedly used SAFE's asset forfeiture fund to
fund local youth sports teams, school projects -- and his own lifestyle
and re-election campaign. Other funds came from a drunken-driving
awareness program.
Towne has said
he had no problem using confiscated drug money to support youth
athletics teams and school trips because it keeps kids occupied and away
from drugs.
He also stands
accused of using forfeited money on personal expenses, including $21,265
to buy a used SUV and another $2,693 for Wi-Fi at home. The indictment
alleges he campaigned from the state's attorney's office; some employees
allegedly worked on campaign matters during office hours and used
office supplies purchased by the county.
The
indictment further alleges that Towne illegally accepted $50,000 in
payments from the state of Illinois for teaching at legal conferences
and seminars. He also allegedly dipped into forfeited funds to cover
airfare, meals and hotel expenses for other conferences in Orlando and
Las Vegas.
Some of the 77
motorists who lost property to the SAFE unit have joined a federal class
action lawsuit seeking damages for civil rights violations. For some,
it was cheaper to just walk away, leaving their money and property in
LaSalle County.
Stephen Komie, the
attorney who filed the suit, said Wednesday that the charges show what
can happen when police and prosecutors engage in what he called
"contingent-fee law enforcement." He says money should never be tied to
arrests, especially if there is little or no oversight on how it is
spent.
In June, the Illinois
Supreme Court decided 5-2 that SAFE was not a valid police agency. The
court found that prosecutors overstep their authority when they create
their own police squads, and that Towne hadn't shown that police weren't
doing a good job at enforcing drug laws.
Towne
was not arrested; instead, prosecutors mailed him a notice to appear,
said Assistant State's Attorney George Mueller, who declined to discuss
the charges further. Towne has not entered a plea yet.
Before
his legal troubles, Towne had been tapped to review the actions of
state police and DeKalb County prosecutors who put together the coldest
murder case ever tried.
The 1957
kidnapping and murder of second-grader Maria Ridulph has haunted the
small town of Sycamore, Illinois, for nearly 60 years. Hundreds of
suspects were questioned and cleared over the years. And, in the days
following the kidnapping, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and President
Dwight D. Eisenhower took a personal interest in developments in the
case.
But the feds came up empty
and left the investigation in 1958 when Maria's body was found and it
appeared she'd never crossed state lines. And then the case went stone
cold.
In 2012, McCullough, a
former neighbor, military veteran and ex-cop, was convicted and
sentenced to life in prison following an investigation led by Illinois
State Police. McCullough, who is 78 and lives in Seattle, was exonerated earlier this year and has filed a civil rights lawsuit in federal court.
His son-in-law, Casey Porter, sought an investigation into police and prosecutorial misconduct.
His public records request to Seattle police, which assisted in the
arrest, uncovered a videotape of an interrogation that Illinois
prosecutors had claimed in court did not exist. The tape contradicted
the Seattle officer's courtroom testimony.
Porter expressed disappointment.
"Over
a year later, no one has been charged or brought to trial," Porter
said. "The only thing that has happened is further proof of the systemic
corruption in the Illinois legal system related to prosecutors."
Another special prosecutor has taken over the perjury investigation. A status hearing is scheduled Monday in Sycamore.
Full Article & Source:
Grand jury accuses Illinois special prosecutor of misconduct
1 comment:
When we hear all the stories about thieving families, we have these types of cases to counter with.
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