Former Joliet Park District finance director indicted

Grand jury indictment brought Thursday

The Joliet Park District office's on Monday, July 24, 2017, in Joliet, Ill.

A former finance director for the Joliet Park District has been indicted on charges he allegedly misused a park district credit card to spend more than $9,000 on baseball games, concerts and other entertainment.

The indictment against Matthew C. Pehle comes more than two years after the park district confirmed it was looking into potential misuse of a district credit card by a former employee. Pehle was believed to be that former employee at the time.

The eight-count indictment brought by a grand jury Thursday identified tickets for Cubs games, the musical “Hamilton,” and the Chicago Symphony among assorted purchases made on a park district credit card. Those purchases were made between October 2016 and November 2019, according to the indictment.

Pehle was finance director at the park district from 2013 to December 2019. He left to become chief financial officer of the Forest Preserve District of Will County. He was put on leave from that position in January 2021 as reports of the park district investigation surfaced. He was eventually terminated.

Each of the eight counts in the indictment alleges a felony offense of a continuing financial crimes enterprise.

The total dollar amount involved in the indictment is far less than the $100,000 in suspected credit card misuse being investigated by Joliet police when reports of the probe surfaced in early 2021. Police also were investigating petty cash theft and a redirected check that combined with the credit card misuse was suspected to total $144,000.

The indictment identifies 24 credit card expenditures ranging from a $101.56 unspecified purchase related to The Avett Brothers rock band, to $697 spent on the Chicago Symphony. Also listed are four separate purchases related to the Chicago Cubs ranging from $384 to $515.

Two separate counts list $602 of unspecified purchases spent on “Star Wars” on June 6, 2018, which was around the time “Star Wars” Day took place in downtown Joliet.

Other expenditures include to an Airbnb, Six Flags Great America and an unspecified $282 purchase related to Bob Dylan.

The last purchase, on Nov. 13, 2019, is listed as a “Beer Temple purchase for $132.20.” There is a craft beer store with a tap room in Chicago called The Beer Temple.

Pehle could not be immediately reached for comment.

Joliet Park District Executive Director Brad Staab also could not be reached for comment.