in Thorton Township a tense special meeting with several trustees backing ordinances they say we're about increasing accountability and preventing unapproved spending by the township which is run by supervisor Tiffany henyard she's also the mayor of Dalton and under federal investigation for alleged misuse of Municipal funds you know what happened in Vegas you know what happened and you will not you should be addressing it saying something to the residents about it I have cancer of course I do Tiffany sold money from a Cancer Foundation how dare you how dare you steal and I helped you with
your campaign how dare you steal from us I had to buy my wigs are you going to reimburse me for the wigs that I've been spending my money on and they say that you're the worst mayor in America I agree the village of Dalton is more than $3.5 million in the whole mayor Tiffany henyard is accused of misusing money and today she's nowhere to be found Tiffany henyard has been back into a corner as she now needs to repay the money she stole as mayor just last week some explosive news hit the headlines involving the
embattled doltan dictator mayor Tiffany henyard henyard who's been facing fraud accusations and criticism over lavish spending got hit with a serious betrayal from someone she thought was on her side WGN investigates has learned South Suburban politician Tiffany henyard has lost another key Ally until recently henyard enjoyed near unanimous support on the thoron Township board but now trustee Carmen Carlile says after trusting henyard and remaining silent she will be a whistleblower against henyard Thornton Township Board trustee Carmen carile a former assistant to henyard broke her silence and accused the 41-year-old mayor of some pretty shocking Behavior
carile called out henyard for unethical and predatory behavior aimed at boosting her fluence in the community there's a real life parks and recck situation going on in a small village outside of Chicago thanks to this mayor Tiffany haard and with George Santos leaving the house this is the new funniest most corrupt politician in the United States of America I learned about Tiffany today when I read an article about the ordinance she's putting in that states if she loses her reelection to be mayor the mayor salary will be decreased from $225,000 to $25,000 but if she
wins it will stay the same when I read that I realized I had to learn everything about this woman and as it turns out the 90% pay cut doesn't even correct the top 10 of the most corrupt things that this woman has done in a short year that she's been the mayor of Dal in Illinois if you're on a highway near dalon Illinois you will see Billboards of Tiffany henyard these are all Billboards that are paid for by taxpayers and and they advertise things such as senior services and free fresh produce but Tiffany always puts
her face and name in huge letters opposed to the actual thing it's advertising in order to get her name out there carile wrote to WGN I'm speaking out against mayor henyard who I believe has been using her position to manipulate employees vendors and residents for her personal gain all while taxpayers foot the bill for her so-called success Jim and Marie former Chicago mayor Lori lighfoot is the special investigator in this case and like we first told you last night not only did she find the village of doton is in significant debt but she also found
The Village's credit card spending is out of control mayor Tiffany hener didn't respond to any of my requests today and I'm told she's not in the building no response to repeated interview requests I tried to track down Dotan mayor Tiffany tenured in person today Village employees told me she wasn't in the office and didn't say when she would be a day after this a packed community meeting Thursday night Outburst after Outburst following special investigator Lori lightfoot's limited examination of Dalton's finances her report revealing as of May 31st The Village's general fund had a negative balance
of $3.65 million Lightfoot originally hired by trustees concerned about spending like self-promoting taxpayer funded Billboards ads plus spending on lavish dinners and trips why are we going to these places um what's Happening Here Dotan trustee Britney Norwood sat down with the CBS News Chicago investigators in February telling us then trustees were denied requested bank statements you're having the same reaction that we did when we saw henyard who's been mayor since 2021 has been facing mounting allegations about misusing public funds Tiffany recently went to Las Vegas with a few of her friends to attend a conference
while there she spent all of this money on airf hotels and then money at restaurants like Ru Chris's Cafe Hollywood hot and juicy crawfish and this was all paid for by the taxpayers because she was there attending a conference she also spent a fair amount of money at Baba Gump's uh Shrimp Company and then she brought the hat that she bought there to her Town Council when she was being questioned about the money she spent in Las Vegas afterwards Tiffany was asked by the local news station about her time in Las Vegas I just want
to remind you before you watch this clip this is this is not a show this is real life this is not this is not comedy it's not a skit you didn't go to Las Vegas m what is that no you don't know if you were in Las Vegas of course I do were you it's not paid by them did you fly first class to Las Vegas any other questions she's also recorded a music video with taxpayer dollars it's not even her own song it's just her singing over it this is is a legit comedy show
I can't wait for the documentary about this look at her with the cops and the crazy thing is all of the things I've mentioned this is it's only the tip of the iceberg with her carile once a trusted Ally admitted she kept quiet about the mayor's extravagant trips and spending because she trusted the administration until now the trustees have even taken action voting to put limits on spending for special events and tightening up access to credit cards with credit card spending out of control receipts for credit card purchases are rarely provided light foot further uncovering
spending that doesn't add up the report shows $40,000 spent on Amazon purchases in one day money that's unaccounted for these are somebody using one of the credit cards another question lingering here money spent on police overtime with two officers racking up six figures in pure OT one $18,000 and $114,000 the deputy chief just fired here last week Lewis Lacy paid $96,000 in overtime the village has been unable to pay all of its monthly expenditures uh with available cash balance I reached all of The Village's trustees in reporting this story today as of right now I
have not heard back from one of them of course we also haven't heard back from mayor Tiffany henyard car didn't hold back adding I'm speaking up for all the people who've been hurt by henards leadership many of whom haven't come forward yet but henyard wasn't about to take this quietly during a heated meeting on August 15th she lashed out even giving carile a new nickname lion Carlile she made it clear she's fed up with all the accusations and drama saying I'm tired of everyone in here there always has to be a show that would not
be the first time Tiffany was embarrassed publicly another contentious board meeting in the village of Dalton Drew frustrated residents demanding answers from embattled mayor Tiffany henard about Village spending and more Casey cronis is live there tonight with the very latest Casey Tia and Scott interruptions shouting and disorganization are par for the course at village board meetings here in Dalton and tonight was no different it didn't take long for tensions to escalate and by the meetings end at least three women were kicked out by police after mayor Tiffany henyard said they were behaving out of ordernot
more would have been accomplished tonight if not for various delays at the start of the meeting henyard asked everyone who was already seated to get up and go through the metal detectors again her reasoning they had not yet been turned on several agenda items were pushed off until the committee of the whole meeting including a motion to sell three Chevy tahos and one Ford Expedition that trustees say will cost the village upwards of $700,000 by the end of their five-year leases what was approved however is a village credit card spending freeze trustees say this will
allow only the director of administrative services to use The Village's credit card on board approved purchases they say there will also be a cap of $5,000 on any given purchase I'm watching as this Village being ran into the ground by this woman is pissing me off the fact that you would even make us get up out of our chairs after we've already sat down and got comfortable to even go back through a metal detector because you wasn't here on time to say that oh they shouldn't have been let in no you should have been here
to let us in this Village deserves so much more than what it's getting from an outsider looking in y'all are being Hood win Bamboozled who that say things about me I want you to prove it because like I said fact versus fiction something we don't typically see at these village board meetings Cook County sheriff's deputies while they remained outside during the meeting the Cook County Sheriff's Office confirms to us that they were requested by Dalton police for additional support carile Who was appointed to her trustee position in May 2023 said she didn't start questioning the
spending until she lost trust in henards leadership henyard fired back reminding Carlile that she was on the board and never raised these concerns before most corrupt mayor Tiffany henyard got called out by the firefighters for stealing their paychecks and y'all sitting up here beating and attacking on a black woman that's in power y'all should be shamed of y'allselves which leads us to inform the residents that we've been serving The Village without a contract for 5 years currently the village still refuses to negotiate making progress extremely difficult and if not impossible once this was discovered the
administration was informed via email by the previous Union president that these missing deposits can be considered St of wag to this date we are still 9 to 10 deposits short this shows lack of accountability and is an act of gross negligence according to reports Carlile and trustee Chris Gonzalez had been pushing for a special meeting after their repeated attempts to add items to regular meeting agendas were ignored they've been asking for financial records ever since henyard took office henyard meanwhile has denied any ownership of the Tiffany a henyard cares Foundation now being investigated by the
Illinois Attorney General the South Suburban politician who the charity is named after is now denying direct involvement in the foundation that bears her name all I can tell you is that I'm not the one on anything it's the only thing I can tell you right now so I'm just trying to ask to the so you're saying there's a foundation that's not registered but it has nothing to do with you correct that's true so you're not aware of any of the work that they've done money that they've raised anything along those lives correct okay Dalton mayor
Tiffany henard appeared on Roland Martin unfiltered on YouTube last night it comes after WGN investigates reported the Tiffany henyard car's Foundation claims to support cancer patients but hasn't filed required Financial disclosures to say how it raises or spends money henards claim that she's not involved in the foundation is contradicted by statements at public meetings and social media videos she's posted as we've reported her top advisor was also listed as the Charity's registered agent the attorney general has ordered the foundation to stopped soliciting money and is threatening legal action nearly all of the money a South
Suburban politicians cancer charity claims to have received in its first few months of activity came from taxpayers it's the latest example of questionable spending by Dalton mayor Tiffany henyard who also serves as Thorton Township supervisor the Tiffany henyard cares Foundation was created in the fall of 2022 and heavily promoted by henyard the Township Board she create she overseas gave the foundation $10,000 days after its creation a new filing with the Illinois Attorney General says the foundation only raised 3,000 additional dollars WGN investigates has previously reported thousands more dollars were charged to Township credit cards during
the Charities walked to Springfield henyard tried to distance herself from the foundation in a recent interview claiming she had no involvement in the group's activities the attorney general has ordered the foundation to stop soliciting money because it still hasn't submitted tax filings to show how it spent money to add to the controversy earlier last month Dalton's Deputy police chief Lewis Lacy a close Ally of henyard was hit with a ncount indictment for bankruptcy fraud and other charges he's accused of hiding assets and income to dodge creditors and avoid paying a lawsuit settlement according to the
US attorney's office for the northern district of Illinois Mr Lacy is absolutely not guilty of all nine counts I think the government likes to bring uh as many counts as possible just so the media will say that he has been charged with nine counts as for Lacy's appointment as Chief well Dalton trustees a majority of them tell me that they're talking to legal counsel right now to consider their next steps as for Thornton Township uh still no budget here that that is one of the issues that likely will be tackled at the next meeting and
that happens next Tuesday Tiffany henyard moved forward with appointing a new Village administrator and a new Village attorney despite the fact that the regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meeting was cancelled due to a lack of attendance ABC 7 Chicago reported not only did mayor Tiffany henyard make the hire without consent from the board we're learning tonight the newest employee has a storied paast Dane PLO has been following this he joins us now with this exclusive story Dane yeah within hours of mayor Tiffany henyard appointing a new Village administrator last night allegations were surf surfacing about
his background including some startling allegations of inappropriate behavior um my next appoint appointment will be for Village administrator last night Dalton mayor Tiffany henyard appointed a new top Aid to a $100,000 a year job with outboard consent 34-year-old Michael A Smith who's been active in South Suburban politics for years the reason for Mike is Mike is uh he have a wealth of great information he's a young uh person and ex politician uh he knows the laws like the back of his hand perhaps that's because Smith has been in and out of trouble with the law
for years public reporting shows Smith has been charged at least eight times with crimes ranging from domestic battery to official misconduct in 2012 Smith then a young trustee in dixmor resigned after pleading guilty to theft when he allegedly stole Gasoline by posing as a police officer then in 2018 Smith was working as an assistant Dean at Thorton fractional High School when he was fired for sexual harassment of a female student grooming a student with lascivious intent and inappropriate aggressive behavior towards a male student according to his termination letter Smith was accused of contacting a 15-year-old
female student on Snapchat with inappropriate comments and making her his girlfriend it gets even worse we have a constant pattern of um her hiring people without doing a proper background check and presenting it to the board and that's our issue that could pose a great danger to our community Dalton trustees Britney Norwood and Tammy Brown um is alarming were not at last night's meeting when Smith was appointed the four Dalton trustees opposed to henyard postpone the meeting and say none of the action taken was legal it's very interesting considering the fact that she didn't have
a quorum um so I don't understand how someone could be appointed Smith is replacing henards previous handpicked Village administrator Keith Freeman who fell out of favor after he was charged with bankruptcy fraud and is now believed to be cooperating with an FBI investigation into henyard but Freeman is apparently still on the village payroll and filling the job so can you have a second village administrat no no we don't have the finances for that as you all know um we are definitely in a financial bind and we cannot afford two Village administrators now late this afternoon
Smith responded to these allegations through Bo Brinley who is serving as a henyard criminal defense attorney in her other case uh Smith saying through Brindley that uh he was cleared of any wrongdoing in the matter at thoron fractional High School by DCFS he also says all the charges in those other cases we talked about where drop saved one in which he pled guilty uh and paid a $50 fine and he goes on to saying this is through the uh the mayor's statement says mayor's henyard renounces efforts by any individual to denounce a man's character based
on unfounded allegations and charges that have been dismissed now Smith was already working today at Dalton Village Hall when we stopped by there earlier trustees say they are going to try to block that appointment when they meet again during Tuesday's Gathering mayor henyard spent much of her time touting her achievements and calling for change in the community we ought to fight now to take our community back she declared promising to address the misinformation through a stateof The Village address according to the Chicago Tribune however I doubt misinformation is the problem considering henards history of problematic
Behavior here she is starting a Dalton village board meeting dressed like the Wesley sn's character in the movie New Jack City later punctuating her political points with the help of her own DJ every single res pay me what you owe me thank you DJ henyard picture and name adorned virtually every public posting both from Dalton where is Mayor she makes $46,000 a year and in Thorton Township whereas the elected supervisor she collects more than $200,000 a year but for all that money henards tenure at both has been chaotic with firing scandals and a legal battle
with the Dalton trustees over spending so last fall henard did something that would seemingly generate some good publicity Stephanie Weedman is the former Thornton Township Chief of Staff whom henard fired shortly after taking over in March of last year it almost felt like a takeover and because it was a very aggressive one at that since her firing wedaman has been documenting Township spending and says she's stunned by the taxpayer dollars funnel into henards charity especially this we got 10 days we're going 196 wow last October henyard led a delegation of Dalton and Thorton Township employees
and political supporters on a march to Springfield to promote her breast cancer charity which she documented on her Facebook page walking through do we're briwood now we are in Godly now we in blon baby just SC I can pretty much map out their entire Springfield trip on the township credit cards uh mayor Tiffany henyard is one of the most corrupt ever she actually hired a child offender overpays her police officers she does she overpays her police officers um to be her security which what do you need SEC that much security for you're a mayor of
a town with about 20,000 people one of the officers was paid $113,000 in 2 weeks for 300 hours of overtime because nobody believes that nobody believes that anybody worked 300 hours of overtime so some this has to be investigated cuz it looks like these numbers were being padded so the chief of police or the ex-chief of police had his attorney investigate these claims and they're stating they're standing behind them that they were uh allegations of corruption and he was investigating them the Illinois Department of Human Rights launched an investigation after two complaints were filed against
the doton mayor's office one came from a former assistant who claimed she was sexually assaulted by a truste by the names of Andrew Holmes during a taxpayer funded trip to Las Vegas according to to WGN TV now we spoke briefly to Holmes this afternoon who said he had quote no response at this time not to these allegations I'm not bothered by it very overwhelming at first it was like it was just me by myself and a year later for me to see y'all standing with me thank you so much surv this means so much to
me but I still want everybody to know I'm I'm standing with you too if you a Survivor with me please come stand with [Applause] me outside the village of Dalton residents eager to address mayor Tiffany henyard and her Administration inside about 50 seats for residents 10 people did speak during public comments once again demanding henyard and her Administration resign residents spoke about wanting Justice for unsolved murders the current sexual allegations and simply wanting answers about The Village's finances all of this comes as five subpoenas have been served to the Village asking for payments expense reimbursements
and credit card expenditures involving henyard and her top assistant Keith Freeman now subpoenas also indicate the FBI is looking into complaints by Dalton business owners Whose license requests have been rejected hen's charitable donations are also under review now these serious allegations only intensified the calls for henards resignation but will she let us know know in the comments
