Former Portage clerk-treasurer charged with official misconduct; audit calls on him to reimburse city $8,000
Chicago Tribune
February 26, 2020
https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/post-tribune/ct-ptb-portage-stidham-investigation-st-0227-20200226-l6s55wtm65eehhayoj7qhujsqi-story.html
Former Portage Clerk-Treasurer Christopher Stidham was charged Wednesday with a felony for official misconduct, the same day a special audit by the state called on him to reimburse the city for $8,000 “for disbursing funds without authority and for services not rendered.”
The criminal charge, a Level 6 felony, regards the same time period as the special audit conducted by the State Board of Accounts, which is Jan. 1, 2015, through Dec. 31, 2016, when, according to the audit, Stidham was paying his then-girlfriend’s various businesses to perform bookkeeping services on contract with his office.
Stidham, 37, of the 2900 block of Wingstem Drive, is scheduled to appear before Porter Circuit Court Judge Mary DeBoer at 1 p.m. March 17 for an initial hearing on the criminal charge, though that date is likely to change because Stanley Levco, the special prosecutor in the case, said he has a conflict. Levco is based in Evansville.
Stidham referred questions on the matter to his attorney, Paul Stracci.
“At this time, it would be inappropriate for us to comment,” Stracci said.
The audit revealed a slew of problems, including paying his then-girlfriend, Rachel Glass, whom he later married, for bookkeeping services that were never done and not submitting invoices for her businesses to the Board of Works. The audit also requests that Stidham reimburse the state for the cost of the special investigation at $6,564.55.
“I’m really disturbed and troubled to know Chris knowingly misused the public’s trust,” said Mayor Sue Lynch, who served on the City Council when Stidham was clerk-treasurer. Stidham lost a primary bid for mayor last year to Lynch.
The public, she added, puts their trust in elected officials to do the right thing and when officials don’t do that, “it taints the rest of us.”
The audit and the criminal charge, she said, come as the city is trying to rebuild public trust after the conviction of former Mayor James Snyder early last year on federal corruption charges.
“Chris is going to have to face the consequences of his actions. What a shame,” Lynch said. “We’re working hard to rebuild trust in our city and we keep getting slammed with things,” she said.
The criminal investigation, according to the charging document, was conducted by Levco and Chris Campione, a detective with Indiana State Police.
Levco declined to comment, other than to say “it’s a total coincidence” that the audit was released and the felony charge was filed on the same day.
The genesis for the special investigation began in late June when then-Mayor John Cannon announced a committee’s findings “that predicted a ‘sufficient likelihood’ of unlawful conduct warranting further investigation by law enforcement and other officials.”
Cannon, who called on Stidham to resign, said at the time that he appointed a bipartisan executive committee in April to investigate possible wrongdoing in the clerk-treasurer’s office. That report was later turned over to the State Board of Accounts and the state police, agencies that went on to conduct their own investigation.
“It’s a good day. Our work was fruitful,” Cannon said, adding the details of the felony charge are unknown but his team’s investigation showed Stidham had paid his then-girlfriend’s companies more than $58,000.
The total, according to the audit, was $58,416.16 for the two years in question.
Cannon, who lost a bid for mayor to Lynch in November, said over the summer and reiterated Wednesday that the objective of the investigation was a return of the city’s money.
“That was our goal from the beginning,” he said.
The investigation involved unapproved payments made by Stidham’s office in 2015 and 2016 to Glass, who operated, at different times, three businesses that reportedly provided bookkeeping services on contract to the clerk-treasurer’s office: Keeping the Books; E.R.G. Advisors; and Paramount Technology Solutions.
The work by Glass continued until shortly before she and Stidham married.
Stidham, who declined Cannon’s demand to resign and promised to finish his second term in office through the end of 2019, claimed over the summer that the attack was politically motivated and prompted by his testimony in Snyder’s federal corruption trial about hiring his girlfriend to do work for the office as a contractor.
“This is all the regurgitation of a slam against me that the former mayor brought up in his trial trying to save himself,” Stidham said in June, adding he and Glass “were obviously in a relationship so it doesn’t always appear the greatest. We were married and it was done.”
Stidham and Cannon tangled publicly over the investigation for much of the summer, with Stidham defending how he handled claims for the Board of Works, one of the many deficiencies outlined in the audit.
Lynch, then president of the City Council, and Cannon disagreed as well, because she wanted state and law enforcement authorities to look into the alleged improprieties rather than the citizen-led committee appointed by Cannon.
In all, the city paid $18,911.62 to McEuen Law Office for work done related to the special investigation committee, according to documents provided by Lynch.
According to the audit, Rachel Glass Stidham’s businesses were paid $8,000 in 2016 for services related to bank reconcilements, but those documents weren’t prepared until January 2018.
“… it is our position that the City paid for services not received. Furthermore, only one invoice, which included an $875 payment for bank reconciling services, was approved by the BOW,” the audit states.
According to the audit, there were no written contracts for the work done by Rachel Glass Stidham’s firms; the Board of Works minutes didn’t reflect approval of contracts with them; the invoices weren’t submitted to the board for approval; and the city did not properly file tax forms with the IRS for her businesses.
“It is uncertain what, if any, penalties the City might incur for failing to issue and/or properly report information to the Internal Revenue Service,” the audit states.
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