DOLTON, III. — What occurred in Las Vegas will not be staying in Las Vegas … and it's elevating new questions on a south suburban politician's penchant for touring firstclass and allegations that she retaliated towards two subordinates who reported a potential sexual assault by a Dolton administrator in the course of the journey.
Tiffany Henyard will not be solely the mayor of Dolton, but additionally the Thornton Township Supervisor. FBI brokers served subpoenas at Metropolis Corridor Friday looking for employment and disciplinary data for greater than a dozen workers; and Henyard's prime adviser was charged with chapter fraud earlier within the week.
He likes to journey and taxpayers foot the invoice. A WGN Investigates evaluation of presidency bank card data reveals prices totaling $102,987 prior to now 12 months for journeys Henyard participated in.
She and twelve different village and township officers traveled to Las Vegas final Could ostensibly to attend an financial growth convention, in keeping with a brand new lawsuit. She says Henyard's entourage in Las Vegas included two of her administrative assistants, two Dolton law enforcement officials who acted as her safety element, a photographer, two township trustees and a Dolton trustee.
WGN Investigates reviewed bank card data that present the complete journey price taxpayers no less than $26,099. The overwhelming majority of the cash ($24,300) was paid by residents of the 17 southern suburbs that make up Thornton Township.
“They don't pay for it.” That was Tiffany Henyard's response to questions final fall concerning the Las Vegas journey. She was most likely referring to Dolton residents, because the query was requested at a Dolton village board assembly. Henyard and her crew have ignored a number of follow-up questions in latest months asking for proof of how that journey, or any of her journeys, has benefited village or township taxpayers.
The group was in Las Vegas for the Worldwide Council of Purchasing Facilities convention, which connects retailers with communities for potential tasks.
THE MUNICIPALITY DOES NOT BRING BUSINESS TO THE SUBURBS
A number of suburban mayors contacted by WGN Investigates scoffed at the concept the municipality performs any function in financial growth or that Henyard and his crew attracted companies to their communities by attending the Las Vegas convention.
“There has actually been no dialogue or proof, previous or current, of any direct profit from this journey or another journey to the taxpayers of South Holland,” stated the city's mayor, Don DeGraff. “The municipality has, at no time in my 30 years of service as mayor of South Holland, performed a job in attracting or encouraging new companies to our group.”
One other veteran mayor says he has not even met with Henyard and that the municipality performs no function within the growth of retail within the metropolis. “I'm not conscious that they’ve an financial growth chief or a committee or something like that,” Homewood Mayor Wealthy Hofeld stated. He stated that he has attended the identical mall convention in Las Vegas 4 instances and that he has at all times paid his personal cash for it. “[Henyard’s] The best way we do enterprise will not be the way in which we do issues,” Hofeld stated. “She is a shame to the native authorities.”
Even leaders of the city that bears the township's identify say they will't consider any cause for township officers to attend a convention on retail growth in Las Vegas. “I used to be very shocked as a result of that by no means occurred; that's not what they do,” Thornton Village Supervisor Doug Beckman stated. “They don’t have any management over any of the villages these corporations would go to.”
In actual fact, Illinois legislation assigns municipalities solely three fundamental capabilities: highway upkeep, property assessments, and “normal help,” often within the type of meals pantries and emergency help for individuals in want. Thornton Township affords common meals help applications and hosts social capabilities for seniors and different residents.
SEXUAL ASSAULT REPORTED ON THE TRIP
The price of the Las Vegas journey to taxpayers may improve considerably after one among Henyard's assistants filed a civil lawsuit alleging he was the sufferer of sexual assault by a Dolton supervisor on his final night time in Sin Metropolis. . The lawsuit accuses supervisor Andrew Holmes of smoking hashish and ingesting with Henyard's assistant into the early hours of the morning. He stated he turned dizzy and disoriented earlier than passing out. A Dolton police officer who was on the journey stated Holmes known as, then known as him on Facetime, and revealed that the lady was partially bare on a resort room mattress. Henyard's assistant advised South Holland police that the Dolton officer stated he may see by way of Facetime that Holmes was “not carrying a shirt” and that he “walked over to the place she was sleeping and took off her garments, exposing her.” [private parts].”
The lady and the Dolton police officer say they reported the alleged misconduct to Henyard the day after getting back from the journey. They stated Henyard stated she could be “ruined” if the incident turned public and he or she promised to care for it, in keeping with the lawsuit. As an alternative, the lady stated she was positioned on unpaid depart and finally fired, whereas her officer stated she demoted him from Henyard's safety crew.
A South Holland police report filed ten months later cited the alleged sufferer as saying she saved a T-shirt containing “bodily fluids” as potential proof. It’s unknown if the clothes was handed over to police or analyzed.
South Holland police have stated they’re working with their Las Vegas counterparts to research. Holmes has denied any wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged. Henyard, the Village of Dolton and Thornton Township are named as defendants within the civil go well with.
FIRST CLASS TRAVEL
Bank card data reveal that Tiffany Henyard and her prime assistant at each Dolton and the township, Keith Freeman, flew firstclass on United Airways at a price of $three,741 per individual. Freeman has since been charged with chapter fraud. He’s accused of mendacity (and making an attempt to cover) his employment at Dolton from his collectors, despite the fact that he sits subsequent to Henyard at Dolton's public conferences, which might be simply considered on YouTube.
Henyard and his allies like first-class journey and lodging. They took journeys to Austin, Portland, New York Metropolis, Atlanta, and Washington, DC over the previous 12 months. Henyard and his crew stayed on the 4 Seasons resort in Atlanta and billed taxpayers virtually $9,000. Metropolis taxpayers footed the invoice for 5 first-class flights to New York and picked up $13,037 on the Marriott Marquis resort in Occasions Sq.. Henyard and a unique group of officers racked up a invoice of $10,831 for a keep on the Fairmont Resort in Austin, in keeping with bank card data.
In Las Vegas, Henyard and his entourage stayed at Planet Hollywood at a price to taxpayers of $eight,457. They charged a complete of $587 for meals at Ruth's Chris Steak Home to his authorities bank card.
OPPONENTS COUNTERBATE
Henyard receives little scrutiny of her spending and a rubber stamp on payments in Thornton Township, the place just one trustee opposes her. City Supervisor Chris Gonzalez stated she has pushed for explanations concerning the journeys, and the way they profit residents, however is routinely ignored by Henyard and her allies who management the city board. “I'm not getting solutions,” González advised WGN Investigates in January.
The story is completely different in Dolton, the place a few of Henyard's former working mates have now turned towards her. They’ve shaped an opposition bloc that has refused to pay the villages' payments until and till Henyard gives extra transparency. They’ve even gone as far as to rent former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who was once a federal prosecutor, to research each the alleged sexual assault in Las Vegas and Henyard's spending.
There are additionally rising indicators that residents are taking discover of the Henyard administrations' questionable conduct. “We're fed up,” South Holland resident Curtis Watts stated at a latest city assembly.
HENYARD CLAIMS TO BE THE VICTIM
Tiffany Henyard often reminds folks that she is the primary black mayor of Dolton and the primary black supervisor of Thornton Township. She has argued that racism influences the scrutiny she receives. “You all neglect: I'm the chief,” she yelled at her opponents throughout a Dolton Village Board assembly in February. “You need to all be ashamed of yourselves since you are all black. You’re all black! And all of you sitting right here beating and attacking a black girl who’s in energy,” she stated. “You need to all be ashamed of yourselves.
Does extreme spending proceed?
Henyard and Freeman flew firstclass to Washington, D.C. in January to attend a gathering of the U.S. Convention of Mayors. It included a go to to the White Home, the place Henyard was entrance and middle for a speech by President Joe Biden. Municipal taxpayers have been billed $1,436 for the airplane ticket. There have been two prices to the U.S. Convention of Mayors' township bank card in January totaling $5,000.
Additionally in January, the identical week Freeman filed for chapter, metropolis bank card data present he and Henyard flew to Atlanta for an undisclosed cause and stayed on the Loews Resort for 3 nights. The airfare and resort price taxpayers $four,449.
It's unclear how a lot Dolton residents are spending to fund Henyard's love of journey as a result of his administration has ignored open data requests, in violation of an order from the Illinois Legal professional Normal.
LOOK: THE MAYOR, DISTRUST AND MONEY: A SUMMARY OF WGN INVESTIGATIONS” REPORT ON TIFFANY HENYARD