DOLTON, ll. – What happened in Vegas did not stay in Vegas … and leads to new questions about the penchant of a southern suburban politician for first-class travel and the allegations he reported against two subordinates who reported a possible sexual assault by a Dolton trustee on the trip.
Tiffany Henyard is not only the mayor of Dolton, she is also the supervisor of Thornton Township. FBI agents served subpoenas across the country Friday for employment and disciplinary records for more than a dozen employees; and Henyard’s top aide was charged with bankruptcy fraud earlier in the week.
He likes to travel and the taxpayers pick up the bill. A WGN Investigates analysis of government credit card records shows charges totaling $102,987 in the past year for trips Henyard was on.
She and a dozen other county and city officials traveled to Las Vegas last May apparently to attend an economic development conference, according to a new lawsuit. He says Henyard’s entourage in Las Vegas included two of his administrative assistants, two Dolton police officers who acted as his security detail, a photographer, two township trustees and a Dolton trustee.
WGN Investigates reviewed credit card records that show the entire trip cost taxpayers at least $26,099. Most of the money — $24,300 — was paid by residents of the 17 southern suburbs that include Thornton Township.
“It is not paid by them.” It was Tiffany Henyard’s answer to questions last fall about the Las Vegas trip. He probably refers to Dolton residents, as the question was asked at a Dolton village council meeting. Henyard and his team have ignored several follow-up questions in recent months asking for evidence of how that trip — or any of his trips — benefited county or city taxpayers.
The group was in Las Vegas during the International Council of Shopping Centers conference, which connects retailers with communities for potential projects.
THE TOWNSHIP does not bring business to the suburbs
Several suburban mayors contacted by WGN Investigates balked at the idea that city hall plays a role in economic development or that Henyard and his team lured businesses to their communities by attending the Las Vegas conference.
“There has been absolutely no discussion, no evidence, past or present, of any direct benefit from this trip or any other trip to the taxpayers of South Holland,” said village mayor Don DeGraff. “The Township has not, at any time in my 30 years of serving South Holland as mayor, played a role in attracting or incentivizing any new business to our community.”
Another longtime mayor says he hasn’t even met Henyard and that the municipality has no role in retail development in the city. “They’re not aware that they have an economic development chief, committee or anything like that,” Homewood Mayor Rich Hofeld said. He said he attended the same business center conference in Las Vegas four times and always paid his own way. “[Henyard’s] The way we do business is not the way we do things,” Hofeld said. “It’s an embarrassment to local government.”
Even leaders of the village that bears the municipality’s name say they can think of no reason for municipal officials to attend a retail development conference in Las Vegas. “I’m really surprised because it never happened — that’s not what they do,” said Thornton Village Administrator Doug Beckman. “They have no control over any of the countries these companies will go to.”
In fact, Illinois law charges townships with just three basic duties: Road maintenance, property assessment and “general assistance” — usually in the form of food pantries and emergency relief for people in need. Thornton Township offers regular food assistance programs and hosts social functions for seniors and other residents.
SEX ASSAULT POSTPONED ON TRIP
The cost of the Las Vegas trip to taxpayers could rise significantly after one of Henyard’s aides filed a civil lawsuit claiming she was the victim of a sexual assault by a Dolton trustee on his last night in Sin City. The lawsuit accuses trustee Andrew Holmes of smoking cannabis and drinking with Henyard’s assistant until the early hours of the morning. She said she became light-headed and disoriented before blacking out. A Dolton police officer who was on the way said Holmes called — and then Facetimed him — revealing that the woman was partially naked on a hotel room bed. Henyard’s assistant told South Holland police that Dolton’s officer said he could see via Facetime that Holmes “wasn’t wearing a shirt” and that he “went up to where she asleep and pulled her clothes, exposing her. [private parts].”
The woman and the Dolton police officer say they reported the alleged misconduct to Henyard the day after they returned from the trip. They told Henyard she would be “ruined” if the incident became public and promised to take care, according to the lawsuit. Instead, the woman said she was placed on unpaid leave and eventually terminated while the officer said he was demoted from Henyard’s security detail.
A South Holland police report filed ten months later cited the alleged victim as saying he saved a shirt containing “bodily fluids” as potential evidence. It is not known if the robbery was turned over to police or tested.
Police in South Holland said they are working with their counterparts in Las Vegas to investigate. Holmes has denied wrongdoing and has not been criminally charged. Henyard, the Village of Dolton and Thornton Township are all named as defendants in the civil suit.
FIRST CLASS TRAVEL
Credit card records reveal Tiffany Henyard and her top assistant in Dolton and the township, Keith Freeman, flew first class on United Airlines at a cost of $3,741 per person. Freeman has been around ever since indicted on bankruptcy fraud charges. He is accused of lying about — and trying to hide — his employment of Dolton from his creditors, despite the fact that he sits right next to Henyard at Dolton’s public meetings that are easily viewable on YouTube.
Henyard and his allies have a penchant for first-class travel and accommodation. They have made trips to Austin, Portland, New York City, Atlanta and Washington, DC in the past year. Henyard and his team stayed at the Four Seasons hotel in Atlanta, billing taxpayers nearly $9,000. Township taxpayers paid the bill for five first-class flights to New York and charged $13,037 to the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. Henyard and another group of officers racked up a $10,831 bill for a stay at the Fairmont Hotel in Austin, according to credit card records.
In Las Vegas, Henyard and his entourage stayed at Planet Hollywood at a cost to taxpayers of $8,457. They charged a total of $587 for meals at Ruth’s Chris Steak House to their government credit card.
SUPPORTING OPPONENTS
Henyard gets little scrutiny of her expenses and a rubber stamp on the bills in Thornton Township where only one trustee opposes her. Township Trustee Chris Gonzalez said he has pushed to explain the trips — and how they benefit residents — but is still being ignored by Henyard and his allies who control the township council. “I have no answers,” Gonazlez he told WGN Investigates in January.
It’s a different story in Dolton where some of Henyard’s former teammates have turned on her. They formed an opposition bloc that refused to pay the country’s bills unless and until Henyard provided more transparency. They even went so far hires former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfootwho was a federal prosecutor, to investigate both the alleged sexual assault in Las Vegas and Henyard’s spending.
There are also growing signs that residents are taking note of the questionable conduct in Henyard’s administration. “We’re tired,” South Holland resident Curtis Watts he said at a recent town hall meeting.
HENYARD CLAIMS TO BE THE VICTIM
Tiffany Henyard often reminds people that she is Dolton’s first black, female mayor and Thornton Township’s first black supervisor. He argued that racism plays a role in the scrutiny he receives. “Everyone forget: I’m the boss,” he shouted at his opponents during a Dolton village board meetingg in February. “Y’all should be ashamed of yourselves because you’re all Black. You’re all Black! And you’re all here bashing and attacking a black woman who’s in power,” she said. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves.
THE SPENDING SPREE CONTINUES?
Henyard and Freeman flew first class to Washington, D.C. in January to attend a meeting of the United States Conference of Mayors. That included a visit to the White House where Henyard was front and center for a speech by President Joe Biden. Township taxpayers were billed $1,436 for the air fare. There were two charges to the municipal credit card by the United States Conference of Mayors in January for a total of $5,000.
Also in January — the same week Freeman filed for bankruptcy protection — city credit card records show he and Henyard flew to Atlanta for an undisclosed reason and stayed at the Loews Hotel for three nights The airfare and hotel cost taxpayers $4,449.
It is not clear what the residents of Dolton will spend to finance the taste of Henyard’s trip because his administration has ignore requests for open records in violation of an order from the Illinois Attorney General.
WATCH: THE MAYOR, CHALLENGE AND MONEY: A RECAP OF WGN INVESTIGATE’S REPORT BY TIFFANY HENYARD
