Federal authorities arrested Sauk Village’s treasurer Monday for allegedly looting more than $21,000 from the village’s police pension fund, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
James Griegel, who was already facing a felony drug possession charge out of Will County, was charged with embezzlement and released from custody on a personal recognizance bond Monday after appearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez.
The complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago alleges the 71-year-old Sauk Village man forged the signatures of village officials on pension fund checks made out to himself over the course of 10 months, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to the complaint, Griegel allegedly made purchases at gas stations, rental car locations, restaurants and storage facilities with the money he collected after cashing the checks. He allegedly listed the names of conferences and seminars on the memorandum lines of the checks to make them appear as though they were business-related expenses.
Griegel served as village treasurer from May 2013 until January of this year when he was suspended from the position, according the to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was charged with possession of a controlled substance on Jan. 4 when, during a traffic stop the previous day in Steger, officers allegedly recovered heroin from his car, according to officials.
Griegel, whose bail was set at $10,000 for the drug and traffic charges, bonded out of jail on Jan. 5, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.
After the drug arrest, Sauk Village police requested an audit be performed of the village’s bank account, which found the checks Griegel allegedly wrote to himself from April 2015 to January 2016, according to the complaint.
On Jan 5., Griegel was suspended as treasurer, according to the complaint. Griegel allegedly admitted to writing the bogus checks and told police he acted alone in carrying out the scheme, reports said. Information on Griegel’s current job status with the village was not available Monday.
Federal investigators recovered 33 checks made out to Griegel and totaling $21,206, according to the complaint. Some of the checks bore a misspelled version of the name of a former village deputy police chief, who was one of several village and pension board officials interviewed by federal authorities and who told an investigator they had no knowledge that Griegel was using their names.
A message left with Sauk Village Mayor David Hanks was not immediately returned Monday.
An embezzlement charge carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
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Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.