CAHOKIA -- A total of 191 charges were issued Friday in indictments handed up by a St. Clair County grand jury as part of a Cahokia vote fraud investigation, charging four men -- including two village trustees -- with felonies that include perjury and illegally observing voting.
Charged were trustees Kyle R. Johnson, 44, and Trevon L. Tompkin, 25; village employee Kevin M. Wiggins, 44, the husband of Village Clerk Bernadette Wiggins; and village street department employee William L. Brown, 27.
Johnson and Tompkin both said that their "side of the story will come out." They declined further comment. Brown and Wiggins could not be reached for comment Friday.
Wiggins was indicted on 82 counts, Brown on 41 counts, Johnson on 35 counts and Tompkin on 33. The four will not be immediately arrested but must appear Wednesday in St. Clair County Circuit Court, according to the indictments.
The indictments resulted from lopsided absentee ballot margins favoring Johnson and Tompkin during the April 7 municipal election. Johnson and Tompkin were elected to the board, resulting in the balance of power shifting from longtime mayor Frank Bergman to a block of trustees that has consistently voted against him.
Bergman said, "This is the biggest vote fraud investigation in St. Clair County that I can remember, and it might be the biggest ever in the state. ... I am shocked at the magnitude of the indictments."
Besides perjury, a count common to all four, the charges include improper solicitation of a ballot, taking the ballot of another without permission of the voter, mutilation of election materials, unlawful observation of voting and improperly marking the ballot of another voter.
St. Clair County State's Attorney Robert Haida said the indictments are significant for two reasons: the number of counts and the use of victim pseudonyms for the first time in indictments that did not concern sexual crimes.
"We did that to protect the identities of witnesses because they expressed a lot of concern about reprisals after they cooperated with the investigation," Haida said.
The investigation was conducted primarily by the Cahokia Police Department and began shortly after the April election.
A press release from Haida's office stated each count is a Class 3 felony, punishable by two to five years in prison or 24 months of probation.
In the written statement, Haida commended the department.
"The department expended hundreds of hours in this investigation," he stated. "The integrity of the election process requires that violations of the absentee voter rule be addressed by an investigation and prosecution."
Bergman said a special meeting of the Village Board will be at 6 p.m. Wednesday, the day when the four must appear in county court at 1 p.m. for arraignment.
Bergman said a discussion will be held at the meeting time concerning whether Johnson and Tompkin, who are merely accused of vote crimes and are considered innocent until proven guilty, can continue to serve on the board.
"We will come up with a plan at that time," Bergman said.
In late April, Bergman backed off his efforts to unseat village trustee Sheyla Ware after she missed several board meetings because she had suffered an aneurysm and was hospitalized and then homebound, recuperating. More than 40 of Ware's supporters showed up at a Village Board meeting, and Bergman agreed not to try to push for a vote to vacate her seat. She remains on the board.
On Election Day, April 7, figures from the St. Clair County Election Department show that in Cahokia District 4, Johnson defeated opponent Rob Eden by a tally of 482 to 155. A breakdown of the absentee ballots revealed that Johnson won 328 of 355 absentee ballots, or 92 percent.
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