Attorney General reviewing 2014 South Jax ISP investigation

By Ryne Turke on November 18, 2016 at 7:17am

Illinois State Police spent the majority of 2014 on an investigation into alleged wrongdoing by several high-ranking government officials in South Jacksonville, and there’s a chance that case could be re-opened.

According to a report from the Jacksonville Journal Courier, the state attorney general’s office is reviewing aspects of the 2014 investigation.

The local paper spoke with Morgan County State’s Attorney Gray Noll on the matter. Noll couldn’t say much about what is happening behind the scenes, but expects to hear if there is enough to warrant criminal charges “within the next several months.”

State police specifically listed three allegations against former village clerk Linda Douglass on a 500-plus-page report released in late 2014. They are theft, theft over $500, and other theft, as well as official misconduct allegations against former Police Chief Richard Evans.

The report also looked into mishandling of petty cash and the creation of “ghost accounts” to hide water accounts and involved former Village President Gordon Jumper.

In addition to providing more details on the theft allegations, the report listed various allegations that Douglass improperly shredded a mass amount of documents less than a month after losing the election for village clerk.

Despite assertions from all but one member of the village board of trustees that state police had enough evidence to arrest Douglass, the Illinois Attorney General declined to press charges after reviewing the report.

In 2015, a group of South Jacksonville residents started a petition to remove the three officials from office. After months of pressure at board meetings and the filing of an ethics complaint, Jumper and Evans would retire from their positions, while Douglass would resign.

To brush up on the Illinois State Police investigation, click here.