Madison County administrator Doug Hulme said that some but not all items seized in raids of county offices in January 2018 were returned by the Sheriff's Department on Tuesday afternoon.
He said that computers were among items returned, but declined to comment further. He said he would do so at a later time.
The near-two year investigation of alleged illegal conduct in the administration of Board Chairman Kurt Prenzler, which resulted in no charges, was terminated in a Jan. 24 court order. Offices searched in a series of raids included Hulme's, IT director Rob Dorman's and communications manager Cynthia Ellis's. Prenzler's office was not subjected to raid.
In the Jan. 24 order, visiting Associate Judge Jerry Crisel also ended the involvement of the Illinois Attorney General's Office, which had been appointed to investigate due to the finding that Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons was conflicted.
Crisel followed up with another order on Feb. 5 stating that all seized items be returned immediately. He reserved judgment on a motion to unseal an affidavit for the original search warrant.