East St. Louis Township supervisor Oliver Hamilton spent more than $40,000 from the township treasury for a Las Vegas party and other personal purposes, interim U.S. attorney Donald Boyce charged on Nov. 15.
Assistant U.S. attorney Norman Smith filed criminal information alleging wire fraud, after Hamilton waived indictment.
Waiver of indictment, which keeps a grand jury out of a case, often indicates a preliminary plea agreement.
Clyde Kuehn of Belleville signed the waiver along with Hamilton.
According to the criminal information, offenses occurred from March of 2011 through this June.
“As township supervisor he was the chief executive officer of the township, the supervisor of general assistance and the chairman of the township’s board of trustees,” Smith wrote.
“He was the treasurer of township funds and was required to keep a just and true account of the receipts and expenditures of all public moneys.”
He wrote that Hamilton charged purchases to a township credit card and misrepresented that he used public funds for legitimate public purposes.
On Oct. 26, 2015, Hamilton fraudulently used the card to purchase “a number of airline tickets for travel to Las Vegas, Nevada,” according to the charges.
Smith didn’t specify the number of tickets or identify those who flew with Hamilton.
The Belleville News-Democrat reported in September that its review of American Express statements for a card issued to Hamilton showed that he was responsible for $230,000 in charges over a three and a half year period ending July 29.
It also reported that Hamilton made large purchases with the credit card at local retailers including $5,092 at the Wal-Mart in O’Fallon on Aug. 30, 2012; $12,500 at the Collinsville Wal-Mart on Dec. 12, 2012; $8,073 at the Home Depot in Collinsville on July 1, 2013; and $6,996 at the Wal-Mart in O’Fallon on Aug. 23, 2013, among many other purchases.