East St. Louis fires community development director following forgery conviction
The city of East St. Louis has fired its community development and TIF director, who last week was convicted in a St. Clair County Circuit Court of felony forgery and public misconduct.
June Hamilton-Dean, 56, was hired in July at a salary of $73,000 to oversee a department with an annual budget of more than $12 million.
East St. Louis Major Robert Eastern III at the time acknowledged the felony charges against her, but defended the hire by citing her experience with the Department of Defense and her service as an East St. Louis councilwoman and former financial consultant to the township board.
On Tuesday, Oct. 22, Hamilton-Dean was found guilty on one count each of forgery and public contractor misconduct.
The charges stemmed from a letter of reference and employment statement Hamilton-Dean wrote on behalf of an acquaintance who was trying to lease an apartment. The complaint against her charged Hamilton-Dean with “knowingly making a false document with the intent to defraud.”
Two additional counts of loan fraud filed in 2017, relating to funds borrowed for a township youth program, were dropped in May.
It took the jury less than an hour of deliberation to reach its verdict.
“Ms. Hamilton’s employment with the city of East St. Louis has been terminated,” City Manager Brooke Smith confirmed. “Ms. Hamilton was still within her probationary period and is not entitled to any grievance procedures laid out in the city’s employee handbook.”
Efforts to reach Hamilton-Dean Tuesday were unsuccessful. She was defiant following her conviction last week, insisting her innocence and telling the Belleville News-Democrat the charges were “politically motivated.”
“This is the classic example of voter intimidation, it’s classic harassment, and malicious prosecution motivated by corrupt individuals who use the justice system to settle the score,” she said.
The position will be held open for the time being, Smith said, because of a revenue intercept the East St. Louis fire pension board filed against the city in September. The city has fallen more than $3.9 million behind in payments to the pension funds of its firefighters and police officers.
Through the intercept procedure, the Illinois Comptroller’s office collects all of the city’s revenue and redirects them toward the pensions until they are fully funded. Since the start of October, the state has seized more than $1 million, Smith said.
In addition to holding open Hamilton-Dean’s job, the city has notified nine firefighters that they will be laid off effective Oct. 31 and that one of three city fire houses will be temporarily closed.
This story was originally published October 29, 2019 at 4:21 PM.