Evidence Turned Over To FBI
By Tony Brockmeyer
St. Charles Police Chief Tim Swope has told the First Capitol News that several instances of fraud have been uncovered in the efforts, of the Citizens Empowerment Committee headed by Linda Meyer, to recall St. Charles City Councilman Mark Brown.
“At the prompting of the prosecuting attorney we have started our initial investigation of the Councilman Brown recall effort,” said Chief Swope. “We have not yet discovered any forgeries but prompted by letters we sent out to the people whose signatures were on the petitions we have received about 30 total complaints some of which claim misrepresentation and lying by the people soliciting the recall signatures. People said they were not being told the truth about why their signatures were needed. Our investigation is continuing and we will follow wherever it leads. It appears that some of the same affidavit fraud committed during the Councilwoman Dottie Greer recall attempts has also been committed in the Councilman Mark Brown recall efforts.”
Swope declined further comment due to this being an ongoing investigation.
A source close to the recall effort told the First Capitol News they expected forgeries to be uncovered. They said if you just look at the petitions it is obvious that many different signatures were written by the same person.
Councilman Mark Brown told the First Capitol News, “I certainly believe that the police investigation will uncover forgeries. They spent months investigating Councilwoman Greer’s recall petitions and I would expect it will take them some time to investigate the efforts against me. It is mostly all the same people involved. You do not have to be a handwriting expert to look at the petitions and see the same person signed numerous signatures. They also have sworn depositions where people admitted to fraud at the direction of a police officer’s wife who is also the head of the recall committee. The Mayor also worked towards recalling Councilwoman Greer and should be a part of this investigation. Keep in mind the petitions were circulated by the same committee and the same people as Councilwoman Greer’s recall. I believe that when the police complete their investigation and present it to the prosecutor some of the backers of the recall attempts will find themselves facing jail time.”
Brown also said, “I was willing to stop the prosecution of this because there was no harm done if they wanted to stop their efforts to put it on the ballot. However, it seems they want to keep pushing and pursing. Now I believe that they should suffer the consequences for their unlawful acts. I am also officially going to ask that they expand this investigation into the Mayor’s participation and her actions with others, which appear to be a conspiracy to the embezzlement of City funds, which were used in the recall. They need to investigate the Mayor’s use of City funds and how the money was laundered through numerous fictitious names, which ultimately appears that they may have used that City money to fund this recall effort. Brown’s statement was pertaining to an investigation by the First Capitol News that has not yet been published in the First Capitol News, but was turned over to the St. Charles County prosecutor and has been forwarded to the FBI for further investigation.
Linda Meyer is the wife of a St. Charles police officer and heads the Citizens Empowerment Committee. Developer TR Hughes, PR guru Glennon Jamboretz, former Councilman and Mayoral confidant Ken Kielty, developer Mike Sellenschuetter and former hospital administrator Kevin Kast fund the Committee. Greer defeated the attempt to recall her. St. Charles County Prosecuting Attorney Jack Banas has indicted one person involved in the recall attempts but sources close to the investigation predict that more indictments will be made once the investigation of the Brown recall attempt is completed.
