A police chief and ally of Dolton, Illinois’ controversial Mayor Tiffany Henyard was indicted Monday by a federal grand jury on bankruptcy fraud charges.
Lewis A. Lacey, 61, a former deputy police chief in Dolton, Illinois, is accused of concealing assets and income to avoid paying creditors and settling lawsuits, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced. Lacey is charged with nine counts of bankruptcy fraud, making false statements in a bankruptcy case and perjury.
Lacey has openly supported Henyard, who has been dogged by scandal for months over a range of alleged wrongdoings, from weaponizing police raids to spending taxpayer money on luxury purchases in Las Vegas.
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Mayor Tiffany Henyard has been embroiled in a number of controversies. (Fox 32)
According to the indictment, Lacey filed for bankruptcy in 2019, shortly after the plaintiffs filed to enforce the settlement agreement, alleging that they still owed $43,000 of the $55,000 settlement. Lacey also filed for bankruptcy in 2020.
According to the indictment, Lacy made numerous false and fraudulent statements in his oral statements and in documents he filed in his bankruptcy case, including under-reporting his monthly income and concealing bank accounts he controlled. Among other things, Lacy falsely represented that he was separated from his spouse, that his spouse did not reside with him, and that he was not involved in his monthly income or mortgage payments.
According to the indictment, which is part of an ongoing federal investigation, Lacey’s false tax returns enabled her to fraudulently calculate, for the purposes of paying off creditors, an amount that was significantly less than her monthly income, including spousal contributions.
During the time of the fraud charges, Lacey served as a police officer with the Dolton Police Department. He was removed as the town’s deputy police chief last week as a cost-saving measure during a contentious meeting of the village board that included Henyard. Fox 32 Chicago I will report.
On the left is former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, and on the right is Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard. (Getty Images/Dalton Village)
Lacey’s attorney, Gal Pisetsky, said: New York Post The charges are part of a “larger government plan to indict Mayor Dalton.”
Pisetsky told the outlet that his client is innocent of the allegations and that the federal government only wanted to use Lacey to set up a criminal case against Henyard. If convicted of all charges, Lacey faces up to 45 years in prison.
“They are targeting certain people in the village to see who will turn against the mayor,” Pisetsky said.
Fox News Digital reached out to Henyard’s office but did not immediately receive a response.
At last week’s meeting, former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced an investigation into Dolton’s “dire” financial situation. The village of Dolton has hired Lightfoot as a “special investigator” to look into Henyard’s alleged wrongdoing.
Lightfoot said as of April 2022, Dalton’s general fund balance was $5.61 million, but by May 2024, the balance had been reduced to a deficit of $3.65 million.
Lightfoot also alleged that Henyard used the village’s credit card to Buy on Amazonretailers such as Target, Walgreens and Wayfair.
The surprising statement said the mayor in question had spent $33,000 on Amazon on January 5, 2023.
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Former Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot speaks at an event at the University of Chicago. (REUTERS/Kamil Krzaczynski)
“Someone is using their credit card, they’re using their tax dollars to charge you this amount,” Lightfoot told residents.
Lightfoot said a preliminary investigation also revealed that two officers were receiving overtime pay in excess of their annual salaries.
One officer’s salary was $87,295 for fiscal year 2024 but received $114,800 in overtime pay. A second officer’s salary was $73,515 but received $102,077 in overtime pay for fiscal year 2024.
The report has put pressure on the city, whose population is just over 20,000 as of July 2023 estimates. U.S. Census Bureau.
The FBI continues to investigate the allegations of financial misconduct.
Henyard, who typically speaks at conferences into a gold microphone, has also come under fire for an alleged sexual assault by one of his associates during a trip to Las Vegas. The alleged victim claims she was fired after coming forward. Henyard’s cancer charities have also come under scrutiny.
Fox News Digital previously reported that Henyard is living like royalty, earning a combined income of $300,000 – more than the governor – in the Illinois town’s 23,000 residents, where the average income is $24,000.
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Mayor Tiffany Henyard is styled by her fashion consultant. (stylemebrandon | Instagram/Screenshot)
In February, it was reported that the FBI was investigating Henyard after six people, including “business owners, former village officials and one or more public officials,” reported him for alleged misconduct.
The FBI issued two federal subpoenas in April as part of its investigation, but Henyard was not served with one.
The first involved the employment records, personnel files and disciplinary reports of 25 Dolton employees, including three police officers and Keith Freeman, the village manager and Mr. Henyard’s top aide. Mr. Freeman was charged with bankruptcy fraud.
The second subpoena was issued specifically to Freeman, seeking records relating to all businesses he has ties to and possible ties to the village.
Fox News’ Sarah Lampe Whitten contributed to this report.
