By Tony Brockmeyer
At a meeting of the Heritage Residents Association Monday evening the Board voted to refer information to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) along with a request for a Criminal Investigation on the advice of their accountant.
The Missouri Ethics Commission also notified the HRA that sufficient evidence was found to refer their complaint against Carl Maus and the Citizens for Responsible Community to the Attorney General for further handling.
Both incidents involve a $10,000 donation made by developer Steve Groeper to the Heritage Residents Association in 2004. Maus and Citizens for Responsible Community later said $5,000 of that money was meant for CFRC and demanded payment. After a lengthy and costly battle, CFRC received the $5,000 from HRA. An attorney hired by HRA investigated and reported that the transaction was illegal and appeared to be money laundering. HRA then filed a complaint with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
The Board recently hired a new accounting firm, Crowder Accounting of St. Charles. Crowder told the HRA the way CMA (former accountant) reported the $10,000 donation from developer Steve Groeper on the financial statement, presented HRA with a problem that must be corrected. Crowder offered them three possible solutions: 1) Do nothing. (Not recommended) 2) Amend the return. This could cost HRA about $4,500 in tax and may lead to an audit by the IRS. 3) Crowder could contact a CID (Criminal Investigation Division) team of the IRS and show them what was done. Allow them go ahead and audit HRA.
He said this would be a bit of a pain, but HRA would come out clean when it was over. After discussing the recommendations from their accountant the board voted to contact the Criminal Investigation Division and request an investigation.
In May of 2004 the First Capitol News reported that Steve Groeper of Western Expansion Group, a local developer, had made a $10,000 donation to the Heritage Residents Association.
At the annual meeting of the HRA on April 26, 2004 an internal fight developed and the two candidates for election to the Board, who also represented Citizens for Responsible Community, were defeated. We also reported a fight over association funds, which resulted in $3,292.75 in legal fees for the association. It involved the $10,000 donation by Groeper. Later, Carl Maus, President of HRA and also President for CFRC along with Raymond Stone, co-founders of CFRC claimed $5,000 of the donation from Groeper was supposed to go to CFRC.
Frank Rosner,current president of the Heritage Residents Association (HRA) was treasurer at the time and told the First Capitol News, “The check was received from Groeper in January 2004 and was made payable to the Heritage Residents Association. Later Maus who was President of the Heritage Residents Association, told the HRA $5,000 of the money was to go to CFRC. At that time another member of the HRA told us this was apparently an attempt to bypass campaign-reporting requirements. At a later meeting, not attended by Rosner and several other HRA Board members, a HRA check for $5,000 was issued to CFRC.
Maus did not run for reelection at the time (April 2004) because he was living in an apartment in St. Charles until his new home was completed in Groeper’s subdivision. In April of this year Maus was elected as the representative to the board from the Heritage Trails subdivision. Two other members of CFRC who were running for HRA board seats were defeated.
At a HRA meeting, the attorney for the Heritage Residents Association Board of Directors notified the board that a payment of $5,000 the board made to Citizens For Responsible Community (CFRC), on behalf of a local developer, gave the appearance of an attempt to launder money. The check, originally received by the board from Steve Groeper of Western Expansion Group, was apparently a misdirection of funds to avoid the appearance of CFRC accepting money from a developer, particularly since the purpose of CFRC was to prevent another developer from purchasing the property.
The attorney, Joel D. Brett of St. Charles, also advised the board in a letter dated September 28, 2004: It appears the Board had issued the check prior to a vote. Two resolutions which say essentially the same thing concerning the donation to CFRC dated February 26, 2004 and March 23, 2004, appear to him to be an effort to establish a basis for the contribution. The resolutions, according to the attorney, are insufficient and further, his opinion is the activities of the Board in making the donation and reimbursing various Board members and Association members for their activities with Cavendish Square is improper. He wrote that the $5,000 donation should be returned to the Board by CRFC, and then perhaps returned to Western Expansion and that the source of the donation was also misrepresented by CFRC.
Citizens for Responsible Community was started by Maus and Stone in an attempt to stop the Cavendish Square subdivision proposed by the Jones Company along with annexation into the City. They organized a group and started a petition drive that was the demise of the proposal. Shortly after the Jones Company dropped their option on the ground, Steve Groeper a local developer purchased the property and developed it as the Heritage Trails Subdivision.
Maus and Stone are close friends of St. Charles Mayor Patti York and have used her office in city hall to conduct personal business during City Council meetings.
Since their inception, CFRC has become involved in St. Charles City politics even though none of them reside in St. Charles, They have become involved in O’Fallon and St. Peters politics and claim to be responsible for the election of Shawn Brown as Mayor of St. Peters. They claim responsibility for the election of O’Fallon Mayor Donna Morrow and several new members of the Council.
Maus and Stone and CFRC have aligned themselves with Adolphus Busch IV, Don Musick, Charles Hager, T.R. Hughes and Glennon Jamboretz of the Great Rivers Habitat Alliance, the group fighting a planned industrial, commercial development on 1,600 acres recently sold by the City of St. Peters to Leonard Kaplan. It has been reported that Busch, Jamboretz, and other members of Great Rivers Habitat Alliance have given thousands and thousands of dollars to CFRC. It is believed a great deal of that money was used to defeat candidates to the City Board in O’Fallon, and the Mayor of St. Peters. Their attempts to defeat City Council members in St. Charles were unsuccessful.
After the Mayor of St. Charles, York, denied knowing members of CFRC it was discovered she was photographed with them at her victory party and she later contributed more than $2,000 to their cause. She was recently photographed with them at an event in O’Fallon which was published in an O’Fallon paper. Shortly after her election as Mayor, she allowed them the frequent use of her office at St. Charles City Hall during City Council Meetings.
The HRA attorney also advised the Board that Maus being President of HRA at the same time he was President of CFRC was at the very least a conflict of interest and should have been disclosed to
all Members of the Association (all residents) and not just the Board members. In addition, the minutes of January 27, 2004 specifically state that one half of the $10,000 paid by Steve Groeper of Western Expansion Group would be paid to CFRC because, “it probably would not look good for the company to have it on the books”.
Board members and other members of the association were reimbursed for their “in kind” contributions to CFRC during the “Cavendish Square” dispute. The attorney reported this is also an improper use of Association assessments and funds. If it is possible to determine the amounts, the members should reimburse the Association for the funds.
Frank Rosner, current President of the HRA was contacted by the First Capitol News. He said, “I am unable to make any comments due to an ongoing investigation.”
