East Central Reporter

Over the last 7 years, we have seen more malfeasance in Shelby County than we thought possible in local units of government.  The tips we received on these matters include tips related to Townships, Municipalities, and County government. They have come to us from both sides of the political spectrum which indicates these matters have nothing to do with politics as some would like you to believe.

Reading through some of the local misinformation posted regularly by a prolific cowardice “anonymous” person, a comment was worth noting.  While most of the comments were nothing more than whining about the exposure of problems and buying into the poster’s misinformation, one woman actually was so upset she wanted things to go back to the old way of doing things, known as the good ole boy days. Those were the days when everyone knew there was no accountability because of who controlled the operations of the government.

A recent letter to the Editor of a local paper appears to point in the direction of nothing has been done wrong in Shelby County since no one was arrested. This is a very special mindset when looking at the actual facts of what we have exposed over the years.

Most people can relate to the frustration that comes from zero accountability to public officials who break our laws in this nation.  I am confident, those same people know that just because bad actors are not prosecuted does not mean laws were not broken or that there is no malfeasance that could be prosecuted.  It simply means they got away with it because those with the power to investigate and prosecute did nothing.

Shelbyville Township – illegal employment, donations, improper use of public aid funds, and over-taxation – Zero accountability for all of those events.

Rose Township – Township Board makes appointments to offices they have no power to appoint to. We suspect this is going to be the case all over the county and the rest of the state.

Tower Hill Treasurer – Theft of over $100,00.00 – A former State’s Attorney DROPPED the charges – Feds Indict and convict Three Counts Wire Fraud

Shelby County:

• Former Sheriff selling seized firearms in direct violation of law –  The former State’s Attorneys must have thought it was a violation of law as one asked the appellate prosecutor to handle the case and the other asked the Attorney General to take the case after the Appellate prosecutor declined. The AG denied prosecution “at this time”. Does that mean the crime never happened?
• Sheriff employees participating in Sheriff sale, a direct violation of the County Code – NOTHING has been done to hold them accountable
• Sheriff paying deputies for working 80 hours when they actually only worked 70 hours.  This went on for years.  To date, ZERO accountability, and no funds recovered.
• Former Sheriff Koonce received compensation beyond that set in the compensation resolution. Prior article here. Zero accountability.
• Former Sheriff Koonce was found to have electioneered with county resources. Prior article here. Zero accountability.
• Shelby County Engineer operating private business out of County Offices – Part I, Part II, Part III
• County Board members and Treasurer seeking criminal prosecution of Alan Spesard   – FBI investigated and turned over all material to the Attorney General – Charging Decision still pending.
• Shelby County Engineer false SEI filing
• Shelby County employee – Resignation in lieu of Official Misconduct charges – Record Destruction
• The Former Shelby County State’s Attorney provided herself a pay raise in direct conflict with state law. After being caught, she made installment payments to pay it back, which constitutes an interest-free loan.  Zero accountability.
• False claims filed by former County Board Chairman – Zero accountability
• Records missing from computers in former State’s Attorney Kroncke’s office – Investigation ongoing
• The former State’s Attorney Office Facebook page missing – constitutes deletion/concealment of public record – Investigation ongoing
• Property Tax records being signed by people other than the board of review – Investigation ongoing
• County Board had issued no-bid leases to a private farmer for years.  If it were legal to lease farm ground to a private farmer for profit, which it is not, it should have been bid out. Instead, years of insider good old boy practice.  For years some of these same people have implied we were wrong and nothing was done wrong, all while they moved to change the law in an attempt to legalize the illegal activity we exposed.  – Zero accountability.

While there are plenty of other items that could be listed as clear malfeasance and illegal conduct, it is abundantly clear that anyone taking the position that no one has done anything wrong or illegal in Shelby County because no one has been arrested has lost touch with reality.

We say lost touch with reality because some of the very same people saying nothing was wrong in Shelby County have turned to a former Shelby County State’s Attorney, Tom Finks for advice on numerous matters.  Who is Tom Finks?  We agree with the opinion of the original complaint that indicated Finks’s conduct was criminal.

Finks happens to be the attorney who filed a motion to dismiss the Quo Warranto case involving a Shelby County board member claiming the case is moot since the board member allegedly resigned from the cemetery board.  Turns out he missed all the case law that indicates a resignation does not moot a quo warranto action. Even we found that case law and we are not attorneys.  More on this story to come.

We are confident the good people of Shelby County are not swayed by uninformed political smear pieces or uninformed opinions based on feelings rather than facts.

We challenge everyone to prove our information wrong.  If you cannot, who are you going to believe?

You be the Judge!

This story was originally published by Edgar County Watchdogs. Read the original HERE.