Shelby Co., Ill. (ECWd) –
We reported on the charges against Kathleen Agney in this article. A preliminary hearing was held on June 6, 2023, and all charges were dismissed. We have delayed reporting on this in order to have the transcript so the people can read for themselves how the hearing went and what led to the dismissal of the charges. The transcript from the hearing lays out some very interesting comments from both the officers who ‘investigated‘ the matter and the attorneys.
An investigation into matters involving an allegation of stolen equipment and other items from the Stewardson Fire Protection District was conducted by the Shelby County Sheriff’s office, specifically Quincy Wood and former undersheriff David Pruitt. The allegations of forgery come from Kathleen Agney’s purchase of gasoline at a local convenience store, Knapp Oil facility in Stewardson, IL.
According to the defense attorney, Tom Finks, some very important questions were never raised by the investigators, and had they it would be a different matter.
“If they’d interviewed Troy Agney or the 2019 board of trustees on the issue of authority, we would have a different matter. If she got authority from either one of those sources.”
What he was eluding to as a means of defense is that Troy Agney, her husband and former Fire Chief of Stewardson Fire Protection District may have given her authority to make those charges. The only authority that could have possibly allowed a person to make such charges would be the trustees, as they control the expenditures. If the defense believes the Chief could have authorized this and that is her defense, it would appear he just threw her husband under the proverbial bus.
Two other interesting statements by Finks, which appeared to work, raise what most would consider very problematic.
- “They didn’t even ask the right people about whether she had the authority to do this.”
- “Number two, we don’t even know if it was Kathleen Agney. K. Agney.”
The first bullet point indicates the investigators failed to ask a question but considering the trustees were the ones making the actual complaint about theft, you would think such a question is not necessary. Had they given such authority they would not have filed a criminal complaint on the matter.
The second bullet point is directly refuted by Sheriff Brian McReynolds’s testimony under oath. McReynolds confirmed that Troy Agney confirmed the signature on the charges was his wife. So the question now is, who is telling the truth?
According to the State’s Attorney, “This is a minor setback and does not end our efforts to obtain justice for the Stewardson FPD”.
The investigation involving the Agneys continues.
A copy of the hearing transcript can be downloaded at this link or viewed below and we urge people to read the entire transcript to better understand the chain of events in this criminal investigation.
K Agney prelim transcript 6-7-23
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