Former Tolono Park District director charged with several felonies related to mishandling money
TOLONO, Ill. (WCIA) — A government official for a Champaign County village is now facing criminal charges for his actions while at work.
The Attorney General’s office confirmed with WCIA Tuesday they have charged Randall Grace, the former director of the Tolono Park District, with four counts of theft of governmental property, four counts of official misconduct and one count of forgery.
Randall Grace started his work as the park district director in 2014. Charging documents allege Grace misused tens of thousands of dollars from January 2015 to November 2021.
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In 2021, Tolono residents like Robert Kolakowski started to notice all three parks in town needed repairs, including broken lights.
“It’s like someone walked away and hadn’t touched it in years,” Kolakowski said.
He attended a board meeting to ask why they hadn’t fixed up West Side Park. The initial response from the Park District Board to Kolakowski’s query was ‘we’re too broke.’ Unsatisfied, he started attending more meetings, asking questions, and FOIAing financial records.
What he found was several credit card charges from southern Illinois.
Tolono Park District Credit Card StatementsDownload
He also got yearly transaction details.
Tolono-Park-District-19-20-Supplies-ExpenseDownload
One purchase that stood out to Kolakowski was a $8,800 lawnmower. He found it fishy as the district already contracted a lawn service.
Tolono Deputy Chief John Brown confirmed he opened an investigation into Grace’s spending in Nov. 2021, before the Attorney General took it over.
After pressure from residents, Grace resigned in Dec. 2021.
The city of Tolono and Tolono Park District are independent of each other. The Park District Board now has new members, compared to when residents spoke up in 2021.
Grace’s first day in court will be March 7. If convicted, he faces up to 15 years in prison for the theft charges, and up to five years for official misconduct and forgery.
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