Alorton mayor pleads guilty to theft, distributing crack cocaine

The former mayor of the Village of Alorton pled guilty Friday to four federal felony charges following an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the Illinois State Police and the St. Clair County Sheriff's Department.

Randy McCallum, who resigned as mayor Feb. 13, was charged with stealing money and attempting to distribute cocaine to Alorton citizens. He was first elected in 2005.

He was also charged with attempting to give cigarettes containing tobacco and a "blunt" containing marijuana to an inmate in the St. Clair County jail.

"Obviously, Mr. McCallum was not as clean as a whistle as he claimed," U.S. Attorney Stephen Wigginton told reporters at a press conference on Friday.

McCallum and an undercover police officer split $2,060 that McCallum spent partly at Home Depot. The officer claimed a driver's vehicle from a staged traffic stop smelled like marijuana and that the driver was from Chicago and supposedly begged him to keep the money and not put him in jail, according to charges filed Friday.

He also split $470 with an undercover officer and promised that officer he would sell some drugs the officer gave him but instead gave the drugs away. McCallum then falsely told the FBI he was "unaware of any officer taking money or drugs from individuals," according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

McCallum also met an undercover officer in his own home on Dec. 12 to provide the undercover officer with a pack of cigarettes and a "blunt," a cigar filled with marijuana for the officer to smuggle into the St. Clair County jail.

McCallum told a village police officer he could redistribute a substance represented to be crack cocaine during a traffic stop.

McCallum then took possession of the purported crack cocaine and said he would pay the officer $100 of the proceeds after he got the drugs out on the street.

"People in the village were aware of his activities. What mayor of any village would knowingly distribute crack cocaine in their village when they took an oath to protect their village?" Wigginton said.

McCallum is free on bond. His sentencing is scheduled June 24 before U.S. District Judge Patrick Murphy.

The U.S. Attorney's office had recommended a $25,000 bond.