This hit the local news Friday night. If the Attorney General is serious about cleaning up state and local government, can the other big city crooks be on notice to look over their shoulders?
Maybe Daley and Ryan can be cell mates, and the East St Louis city government can be the next few cells over.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...nfirms+E.+St.+Louis+inquiry+about+voter+fraud
Maybe Daley and Ryan can be cell mates, and the East St Louis city government can be the next few cells over.
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/ne...nfirms+E.+St.+Louis+inquiry+about+voter+fraud
Indictment confirms E. St. Louis inquiry about voter fraud
By Michael Shaw
And Doug Moore
Of the Post-Dispatch
01/22/2005
An indictment that accuses an East St. Louis official of attempted murder of a witness officially acknowledges for the first time that federal authorities are investigating voter fraud in the city.
Although Kelvin Ellis, who heads the city's department of regulatory affairs, has not been charged with voter fraud, the indictment makes clear that agents have been investigating him for that since early October.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Hal Goldsmith, who has largely headed corruption investigations in the city, indicated Friday that the inquiry would continue. Asked in court by Larry Fleming, Ellis' attorney, how the vote fraud investigation was going, he replied, "It's going, despite your client."
U.S. Attorney Ron Tenpas confirmed at a news conference that the investigation that led to the indictments and arrests of Ellis and three others Friday was continuing.
The indictment against Ellis, a Democratic committeeman, states that he learned that a confidential witness had met with federal agents Oct. 5 and implicated him in election fraud. That was a month before candidates and others raised vote fraud allegations following the November election. Republican County Board member Steve Reeb, who lost the race for St. Clair County Board Chairman, was one of them.
Without East St. Louis votes, Reeb had a lead of 52 percent to 48 percent over his Democratic opponent, Mark Kern, and a 4,000-vote edge. After East St. Louis was included, the numbers reversed. Reeb said at the time that he believed the election numbers were fishy.
Ellis, 55, of East St. Louis, came under a spotlight publicly when FBI agents raided City Hall on Nov. 23 and took from his office computer hard drives, boxes of files and his lizard-skin briefcase. He's a Democrat precinct committeeman with ties to other leaders in the city.
According to his indictment, within two days of learning about the witness's contact with authorities, Ellis worked on a plan to plant one-half ounce of crack cocaine on the witness and have her arrested. Conversations between Ellis and an undisclosed person were apparently recorded. The talk shifted from a set-up to Ellis' alleged instructions to "dispose of her."
The other person showed Ellis a photograph "depicting what appeared to be the murdered" witness, the indictment states. The other person told Ellis, falsely, she was thrown to the bottom of Horseshoe Lake in Madison County.
According to the indictment, Ellis also tried to corruptly influence several witnesses to invoke their right to remain silent when they appeared before a grand jury in November. For all this alleged activity, including the attempted murder accusations, he faces four charges of obstruction of justice.
Ellis been in federal court before. In the late 1980s, he used his influence as executive assistant to Mayor Carl E. Officer to halt a nursing home project until the construction company gave a $184,000 plumbing contract to a company he controlled. He was sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty to extortion.
Also arising Friday were separate allegations of bribery and corruption in the East St. Louis police department. The two investigations seemingly have no connection. It's less clear whether agents will continue to investigate the city's police force.
East St. Louis Police Chief Ronald Matthews, his secretary, Janerra Carson-Slaughter, and a former auxiliary officer, Ayoub S. Qattoum, were arrested on Friday. They are accused of conspiring to help the officer avoid a gun charge by secretly returning a gun that had been confiscated from him. The secretary is accused of taking a $1,500 bribe to return the gun to Qattoum.
Chief Matthews, 55, has worked for the department for more than 32 years, spending a rough 20 months in the top spot.
A month after his promotion to chief in 2003 he was suspended for five days without pay for letting a 20-year-old woman drive his city-issued car with his service revolver stashed under the driver's seat.
Matthews also was docked 15 vacation days.
Qattoum was drawing attention as far back as early last year for appearing at drug raids and acting like a real cop.
It wasn't the first time Qattoum received such scrutiny. According to documents obtained by the Post-Dispatch, Qattoum was arrested in 1998 by officers of the Champaign Police Department and charged with impersonating an officer, after an altercation between Qattoum and his wife. In the police report, his wife accuses Qattoum of threatening to kill her.
A picture of corruption in the city had been emerging even before Friday's arrests. The police department's internal affairs officer, Freddie Wills, is awaiting trial in federal court on a bribery charge. East St. Louis real estate developer Phil Cohn admitted last year to bilking the city's school district on a land deal. Voter records show he voted six times in East St. Louis elections, despite living in a St. Louis town house.
Kelvin Ellis registered him to vote.
In another apparent coincidence, both Qattoum and Cohn held police "commission" cards from the East St. Louis Park District at the same time. The park district has a small police force separate from the city's. Police commissions can vary in significance, from providing full police powers to being virtually meaningless.
Qattoum used his to falsely claim he was a full-fledged police officer, according to police reports from 1998. The Post-Dispatch obtained a copy of Cohn's commission card late last year.
Just how Cohn and Qattoum obtained park police commissions remains a mystery. The former Park District police chief, who would have issued the cards, could not be reached for comment.
Reporter Michael Shaw
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 618-235-3988
Reporter Doug Moore
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 618-235-0260
Murder plot charge stems from voting probe
By Michael Shaw and Doug Moore
Post-Dispatch
01/22/2005
Kelvin Ellis, a top administrator at East St. Louis City Hall, plotted to kill a witness in a federal vote fraud investigation, according to indictments opened Friday, which also accuse Police Chief Ron Matthews of apparently unrelated crimes.
Matthews is accused of helping a former auxiliary police officer with a felony record regain a pistol that had been taken from him, and of lying about it. That auxiliary officer, Ayoub S. Qattoum, and Matthews' secretary, Janerra Carson-Slaughter, also were charged.
The vote fraud and gun cases appeared to be unconnected. Court documents provide a narrow window on the accusations. Federal officials made only measured statements at a news conference, and hinted there is more to come from a yearlong investigation.
This is "the beginning of a concerted and focused effort to root out public corruption," said Weysan Dun, special agent in charge of the FBI's Springfield, Ill., field office, which has jurisdiction over the Metro East area.
Ellis, 55, who once served a prison term after abusing a city post, is now the director of regulatory affairs, which puts him in charge of housing inspections. He also is a precinct committeeman with close ties to the community's Democratic Party leaders.
The indictments accuse Ellis of trying to have an unidentified witness killed. Court documents say he is a target of an ongoing vote fraud inquiry. He also is accused in a separate indictment of income tax evasion.
The investigation became public last year when more than a dozen subpoenas were delivered to city Democratic Party leaders after the November election.
According to one of Ellis' indictments, the investigation began at least a month earlier. A female witness told agents on Oct. 5 that Ellis, "had committed election fraud and other potential criminal offenses." Ellis learned the same day of the substance of what she had said, the indictment states.
In the following days, Ellis spoke repeatedly with an unidentified person, first discussing plans to discredit the witness, perhaps through a bogus drug sting, court documents say. The indictment includes excerpts of what appear to be recordings of these conversations between Ellis and the other person.
"I want her credibility destroyed," Ellis is reported to have said. She is "trying to destroy us. No telling what she's saying."
As the weeks passed, the conversations turned more sinister, with Ellis saying on Nov. 19, "I want her ass taken out, however we have to do it."
That was one day after Ellis had been called before the grand jury.
Ellis, a longtime municipal official who has held various posts, was convicted in 1990 of extortion. He had been an executive assistant to Mayor Carl E. Officer, officials said, when Ellis stopped work on a nursing home project until its builder steered work to a company Ellis controlled. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 21 months.
He has worked off and on for the city since, returning full time in 2001.
Ellis was arrested at an undisclosed location Friday morning in St. Louis. He faces four counts of obstruction of justice, which include the murder plot allegation, and three counts of income tax evasion, one that says he filed a false return and two that say he failed to file.
He was ordered held pending a hearing Thursday.
The case against Chief Matthews, 55, of East St. Louis, centers around Qattoum, 40, of Belleville, a convenience store owner who goes by the name of "Dave." As an auxiliary officer for several months last year, Qattoum wore a badge, carried a .38-caliber pistol and participated in drug raids wearing a windbreaker emblazoned with "Police" across the back.
Auxiliary officers are allowed to help police with crowd and traffic control, but do not have the authority of real officers.
According to the indictment, Qattoum was convicted in 1993 of a felony, and in 1998 of a misdemeanor domestic battery. Officials said either would make it illegal for him to carry a gun.
After an altercation, East St. Louis police officers arrested Qattoum, on Aug. 7 and seized his gun. Concerns about his immigration status prompted a detective to call federal authorities, who began a firearms investigation.
According to the indictment, Matthews took over the investigation, gained control of the files, and turned the gun back over to Qattoum on Oct. 11 or 12. According to excerpts from his testimony Nov. 16, the chief told the grand jury he never spoke with Qattoum about the gun. Matthews is accused of conspiracy, obstruction of justice and perjury.
Qattoum is charged with conspiracy, obstruction of justice, gun violations and making a false statement. He was detained pending a hearing Friday. He has a passport from Jordan, and officials were not able to determine his native country. U.S. Attorney Ron Tenpas said Qattoum is not a U.S. citizen.
Matthews' secretary, Carson-Slaughter, 28, of East St. Louis, is accused of taking a $1,500 bribe to help Qattoum get the pistol back. She is charged with conspiracy and obstruction of justice.
Pleas of not guilty were entered on behalf of all four of those arrested Friday. Ellis was the only one to appear with his own lawyer; the others were represented by public defenders.
Matthews, who arrived in court in his police chief uniform, and his secretary were released on bond without posting cash. They left the courthouse arm-in-arm, surrounded by supporters, and declined to comment to reporters.
Acting East St. Louis City Manager Alvin Parks said Friday that he pledged to federal officials his "full cooperation in their efforts to stamp out corruption." He said Assistant Chief Marion Hubbard would take control of the police department for now. There was no announcement about the jobs of Ellis or Carson-Slaughter.
Mayor Officer reacted Friday by saying, "I'm embarrassed for the citizens and I hurt for the families of some of the individuals. I'm perplexed that they put themselves in this situation."
Agents from the FBI, Internal Revenue Service, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Postal Inspection Service worked together on the case with Illinois State Police in what Tenpas described as a new anti-corruption task force.
Reporter Michael Shaw:
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 618-235-3988
Reporter Doug Moore
E-mail: [email protected]
Phone: 618-235-0260
:banghead: 
Boy have I heard people say that line before! 
