Shelby County Circuit Clerk Misappropriated Public Funds, Depriving Crime Victim For Months –

Shelby Co., Ill (ECWd) –

Shelby County Circuit Clerk, Kari Kingston, misappropriated the People’s money by sending several thousands of dollars to the wrong person, which deprived the crime victim of use of those funds for several months.

According to his comment below, it wasn’t until the former State’s Attorney filed a lawsuit against the unlawful recipient of those funds paid by Circuit Clerk Kingston, that they were eventually returned and given to the proper recipient.

The suit was brought as a small claims lawsuit with the Circuit Clerk as the Plaintiff and Cinda Smith as the Defendant (Shelby County Case Number 2023SC72). She entered an agreed settlement in the amount of $6955.00, but with money, she was already due to receive from the clerk, the amount payable to the clerk’s office was $6148.00 and payable in eleven equal installments of $512.33 with the final payment being $512.37.

Although we do not have a “signed copy” of the settlement, it was entered into the court’s docket and we believe this is what was entered (here).

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Comments of Robert Hanlon from another post on this site:

“I have been informed that Ms. Kingston has articulated her displeasure of me with some purported previous filings as having been inaccurate. Yes, as a human, I have made mistakes that I have corrected. However, it should be clear that Kari Kingston’s Facebook comments (now removed from public view) casting the first stone come from her proverbial glass house and you may consider this a single stone in return for which plenty more could be cast. Kari disbursed money from the Court’s restitution account by sending thousands of dollars to the wrong person. In fact, I had to endeavor into extensive research including review of bank records the restitution account records and obtain copies of checks then meet with the wrong payee and ultimately, I had to sue the wrong payee to recover the money for the people, all to protect Kari and the People. This was no small problem as no restitution payments could be made until the problem was resolved. If you were a crime victim and your restitution payment got delayed for several months last year, it was because of Kari’s serious mistake and the fault of no other person. This she will not wish you to know this fact. Her mistakes and even my own mistakes have nothing to do with what is at issue in the respective subpoenas.

Kari’s misappropriation of the People’s money was presented to me the first week I was in office. I could very easily have charged her with official misconduct, some complain that I didn’t charge her with that felony. I did not charge her because I believed she made a fools mistake attributable to ignorance as opposed to a criminal motive. I didn’t announce she was under investigation because to do so would have been improper and if she were charged it would have prejudiced her. (This is something the Current State’s Attorney will get an education in soon enough.) There is a difference between making a mistake and being completely incompetent. As opposed to going public with matters I observed, I consistently sought to bring problems to the direct attention of the public official, asking that the official to take corrective action. This is in contrast to Kari’s behind your back high school level gossip.

However, when I am hired to represent a party, I will endeavor to adhere to my oath to zealously represent my client. That means I file documents with the court that address the issue I was hired to address and no other issue. The People of Shelby County will have an opportunity to assess Kari in the upcoming election and decide what kind of government the people want. That choice is clear. On one hand the Republican candidate will bring a new fresh objective and honest approach. On the other hand, the Democrat candidate Kari Kingston offers pettiness, and gossip.”