Will, Grundy, and Kendall County Regional Offices of Education – (ECWd) –
In 2023, we were provided key information alleging violations of law by numerous elected and public-employee individuals tied to the Regional Offices of Education (“ROE”) for Will, Grundy, and Kendall Counties. This article was our first exposure to the clear malfeasance. We later published numerous articles on this scam operation, costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars. Those articles can be viewed at this link.
As we continued to investigate, it was clear to us that law enforcement needed to be involved, especially when the entire operation got shut down after our attendance at one meeting. It appeared the rats were jumping ship, as was evident with information found in an investigation report, which pointed to “The Apparent Coverup” that began after that first meeting attendance, among other things.
While the country is seeing the early results of Elon Musk’s DOGE work, Dr. Lisa Caparelli-Ruff, Superintendent of the Will County Regional Office of Education, was ahead of the recent DOGE concept of government oversight and accountability. She took matters seriously as a newly elected ROE in 2023. Her efforts led to the production of this report, which we understand is now in the hands of the FBI. We have been told, but cannot confirm yet, that a Federal Grand Jury has been convened on this matter. We are awaiting some responses to our Freedom of Information Act requests for further confirmation.
The artifice put together by a select few may well be one of the most well-thought-out scams to taxpayers we have ever come across. From private ventures with public resources to Casino ties in Antigua, every single person involved in this operation needs to be held accountable.
We were quite pleased to see our work cited over 25 times in footnotes in this investigative report. While we did break the story, it would have never happened without insiders who tipped us off about the alleged crimes taking place in their offices. Those whistleblowers are the key to accountability. We are just the messenger.
We have been told the Will County State’s Attorney has no interest in pursuing this matter. We are awaiting comment from his office and will publish what he provides, if anything.
While we understand most people will not read the 44-page report, rest assured, those who do will be outraged at what took place.
Some of the key items from within the report are:
- The intergovernmental agreements between ROEs and a private company
- Public employees working for a private company while claiming participation in IMRF for the hours worked
- Hundreds of thousands in bonuses paid from contractors to public employees
- sales of software using public resources and personnel
- An offshore casino using the public resources of the ROEs (and the state of Illinois)
- The apparent cover-up
- Potential violations of the law in the operation
Garrett Discovery, a digital forensic legal consulting firm, made forensic copies of all servers at the Will County Regional Office of Education. CEO Andrew Garrett stated, “What you have reported on is just a fraction of the evidence. The FBI has now taken over the investigation. We provided terabytes of data, revealing that several companies were improperly hosting their data on government servers, misusing taxpayer resources.”
You can download the report at this link or view it below.
PrescientReport_12202023
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