Former Crawfordsville city clerk owes restitution

Former Crawfordsville City Clerk John Hamil, 63, has been ordered to pay restitution of roughly $33,000 after he pleaded guilty to first-degree theft. In March 2010, Hamil was charged with first-degree theft of more than $10,000 and felonious misconduct during his time as the city clerk. On May 2, Judge Lucy Gamon issued a deferred judgment for Hamil. The charge of felonious misconduct was dismissed as part of a plea agreement.

Hamil will be on probation for three years and in that time must seek and maintain employment. He will have to pay a civil penalty of $1,000. He will be allowed to perform community service to discharge this obligation as directed by his probation officer.

Hamil is ordered to pay restitution to the city of Crawfordsville in the amount of roughly $23,000 for outstanding telephone, utility and electric bills. He will also have to pay for the audit that the State Auditor performed for the city, which amounts to about $10,000.

Hamil was Crawfordsville?s city clerk for 27 years from 1982 until February 2009. In February 2010, the State Auditor?s Office and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) began investigating Hamil for improper disbursement he allegedly made from the city treasury to his personal residence. The theft and felonious conduct are alleged to have occurred in the last 10 years of Hamil?s tenure, between July 1999 and February 2009.

State Auditor David Vaudt released a report on Feb. 26, 2010 which found that approximately $31,600 in improper disbursements were made from the city treasury to Hamil?s home between 1999 and 2009. Among the improper disbursements were roughly $10,000 in electrical service and $8,700 in telephone service to Hamil?s residence. The report also revealed that Hamil had approximately $1,000 in unpaid utility bills, and Vaudt estimated that he had about $3,000 in unpaid water bills as well.

In his role as city clerk, Hamil was responsible for the utility billing, making payments on behalf of the city and preparing financial reports. The state audit showed that Hamil submitted bills to the city council for his sewer, water, phone and electric bills and that these were approved by the council.

Iowa DCI Special Agent Jagat Sandhu has investigated the improper disbursements as well and has spoken with Hamil. In a sworn affidavit from 2010, Sandhu wrote he interviewed Hamil about his personal utility bills and that Hamil told him the utility bills submitted to the council were not itemized to show the recipient of each payment.

According to Sandhu?s affidavit, ?The defendant [Hamil] would simply mark ?paid? for his home?s water and garbage bill into the city?s water billing software. No money was ever deposited into the city?s account to cover his water and garbage bill.?

Sandhu also wrote that Hamil claims the then Crawfordsville Mayor David Cunningham verbally told Hamil to pay his residential utilities with city funds because Hamil worked out of his home. Sandhu wrote that there is no written record covering this arrangement. Hamil told Sandhu the agreement was between him and Cunningham and that the rest of the city council was unaware of it.

Sandhu wrote that a telephone interview was conducted with Cunningham on Feb. 22, 2010. In the interview, Cunningham did not recall giving Hamil permission to use city money to pay his personal utility bills. According to Cunningham, he would not have given Hamil this authority because Hamil would be eligible for a tax write-off for doing business from his home.

Vaudt?s audit showed the city of Crawfordsville at times paid both the employers? and employees? portions of the Iowa Public Employees? Retirement System (IPERS) for Hamil and other city employees from 1993 to 2005. Vaudt found that the city paid about $2,260 toward Hamil?s IPERS account and $1,940 toward the accounts of other city employees. When Sandhu asked Hamil about the city payments to his IPERS account, Hamil had no explanation for using city funds for that purpose, according to Sandhu?s affidavit.