Once known as the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, one citizen probed into finances, led to investigation
BLOOMINGTON – The Bloomington Pantagraph is reporting Monday afternoon that "Five former management officials of the city-owned arena face a total of 111 indictments accusing them of stealing city funds, money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy, filing false sales tax returns and conspiracy to commit tax evasion."
What the Pantagraph does not mention is an 18-month-long investigations by the Illinois State Police and Illinois Department of Revenue were set into place by one persistent woman with a news blog that is committed to government transparency – Diane Benjamin of BLNNews.com.
The Edgar County Watchdogs hail Benjamin's efforts in an update posted Monday
Thanks go to Diane Benjamin, BLNNEWS.COM, for her relentless pursuit of public records!
Diane’s pursuit of these records included her first ever lawsuit, filed in hand-written form, after the City of Bloomington and its disgraced Mayor Tari Renner unlawfully withheld public records under the Freedom of Information Act.
The Pantagraph writes:
The indictments, returned Sept. 20 by a McLean County grand jury, were unsealed Monday after all five defendants posted bond.
Charged are John Y. Butler and Bart Rogers of Central Illinois Arena Management (CIAM), and their employees Jay C. Laesch, Paul E. Grazar and Kelly W. Klein.
The charges follow an 18-month-long investigation by Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Revenue into alleged mismanagement of funds at the city-owned facility, then known as U.S. Cellular Coliseum. The probe was initiated after Bloomington police cited a conflict of interest in reviewing CIAM's operations.
On her website, Benjamin did not boast about her efforts, although she's been diligently working to get to the bottom of the city's expenditures. When Illinois Review spoke with her earlier this year, she said that she was waiting to hear if anything would come from the State Police's investigation she knew at the time was underway.
Benjamin wrote on BLNNews.com Monday:
The fraud could not have happened if the City had performed even a slightest oversight of the asset they forced citizens to pay for. [Former City Manager] David Hales should be listed in the indictment along with everyone who has been on the Council since I started writing about the fraud YEARS ago. The two exceptions were Judy Stearns and Kevin Lower who attempted to force an investigation when professional hockey turned into junior hockey. They were shut down by Hales, Renner and the rest of the Council.
