Tiffany Henyard’s admin spent $100K on travel

DOLTON, lll. — What happened in Vegas isn’t staying in Vegas… and it’s leading to new questions about a south suburban politician’s penchant for first-class travel and allegations she retaliated 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’s also the supervisor of Thornton Township. FBI agents served subpoenas at village hall Friday for employment and disciplinary records for more than a dozen employees; and Henyard’s top aide was indicted for bankruptcy fraud earlier in the week.

She has a taste for travel and taxpayers are picking 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.

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She and twelve other village and township officials traveled to Las Vegas last May ostensibly to attend an economic development conference, according to a new lawsuit. It says Henyard’s Las Vegas entourage included two of her administrative assistants, two Dolton police officers who acted as her security detail, a photographer, two township trustees as well as a Dolton trustee.

WGN Investigates reviewed credit card records which show the entire trip cost taxpayers at least $26,099. The vast majority of the money – $24,300 – was paid for by residents of the 17 south suburbs that comprise Thornton Township.

“It’s not paid by them.” That was Tiffany Henyard’s answer to questions last fall about the Vegas trip. She was likely referring to Dolton residents since the question was asked at a Dolton village board meeting. Henyard and her team have ignored multiple follow-up questions in recent months asking for evidence of how that trip – or any of her travel – has benefited village or township taxpayers.

The group was in Las Vegas during the International Council of Shopping Centers conference, which connects retailers with communities for potential projects.

TOWNSHIP DOESN’T BRING BUSINESS TO SUBURBS

Several suburban mayors contacted by WGN Investigates scoffed at the notion the township plays any role in economic development or that Henyard and her team lured businesses to their communities by attending the Las Vegas conference.

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“There certainly has been no discussion, or any 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 either attracting or incentivizing any new business to our community.”

Another longtime mayor says he hasn’t even met Henyard and the township plays no role in bringing retail development to town. “I’m not aware they have an economic development leader, committee or anything like that,” said Homewood mayor Rich Hofeld. He said he has attended the same shopping center conference in Las Vegas four times and always paid his own way. “[Henyard’s] way of doing business is not the way we do things,” Hofeld said. “She’s an embarrassment to local government.”

Even leaders of the village that bears the township’s name say they can think of no reason for township officials to attend a retail development conference in Las Vegas. “I was really surprised because that’s never happened – that’s not what they do,” said Thornton Village Administrator Doug Beckman. “They have no control over any of the villages these businesses would go to.” 

In fact, Illinois law charges townships with only three basic functions: Road maintenance, property assessment and “general assistance”- usually in the form of food pantries and emergency relief for people in need. Thornton Township does offer regular food assistance programs and hosts social functions for senior citizens and other residents.

SEX ASSAULT REPORTED ON TRIP

The Las Vegas trip’s cost to taxpayers might climb 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 their final night in Sin City. The lawsuit accuses trustee Andrew Holmes of smoking cannabis and drinking with Henyard’s aide 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 trip said Holmes called – and then Facetimed him – revealing the woman was partially naked on a hotel room bed. Henyard’s aide told South Holland police the Dolton officer said he could see via Facetime that Holmes was “not wearing a shirt” and that he “walked over to where she was sleeping and pulled her clothing back, exposing her [private parts].”

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The woman and Dolton police officer say they reported the alleged misconduct to Henyard the day after they returned from the trip. They recounted Henyard saying she would be “ruined” if the incident became public and vowed to take care of it, according to the lawsuit. Instead, the woman said she was put on unpaid leave and eventually terminated while the officer said he was demoted off Henyard’s security detail.

A South Holland police report filed ten months later quoted the alleged victim as saying she saved a shirt that contained “bodily fluids” as potential evidence. It’s unknown if the clothing has been turned over to police or tested.

South Holland police have 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 lawsuit.

FIRST CLASS TRAVEL

Credit card records reveal Tiffany Henyard and her top aide in both Dolton and the township, Keith Freeman, flew first class on United Airlines at a cost of $3,741 per person. Freeman has since been indicted on bankruptcy fraud charges. He’s accused of lying about – and attempting to hide – his employment by Dolton from his creditors, despite the fact he sits right next to Henyard at Dolton’s public meetings which are easily viewable on YouTube.

Henyard and her allies have a fondness for first-class travel and accommodation. They’ve taken trips to Austin, Portland, New York City, Atlanta and Washington, D.C. in the past year. Henyard and her team stayed at the Four Seasons hotel in Atlanta, billing taxpayers nearly $9,000. Township taxpayers footed the bill for five first-class flights to New York and charged $13,037 at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Times Square. Henyard and a different group of officials 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 her 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.

OPPONENTS BATTLE BACK

Henyard gets little scrutiny of her spending and a rubber stamp on bills in Thornton Township where only one trustee opposes her. Township Trustee Chris Gonzalez said he has pushed for explanations of the trips – and how they benefit residents – but is routinely ignored by Henyard and her allies who control the township board. “I get no answers,” Gonazlez told WGN Investigates in January.

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It’s a different story in Dolton where some of Henyard’s former running mates have now turned on her. They’ve formed an opposition block that has refused to pay village bills unless and until Henyard provides more transparency. They’ve even gone so far as to hire former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot, who used to be a federal prosecutor, to investigate both the alleged sexual assault in Las Vegas as well as Henyard’s spending.

There are also growing signs that residents are taking notice of the questionable conduct in Henyard’s administrations. “We are fed up,” South Holland resident Curtis Watts said at a recent township meeting.

HENYARD CLAIMS TO BE THE VICTIM

Tiffany Henyard frequently reminds people that she is the first black, female mayor of Dolton and the first black supervisor of Thornton Township. She has argued that racism plays a role in the scrutiny she receives. “You all forget: I’m the leader,” she shouted at her opponents during a Dolton village board meeting in February. “You all should be ashamed of yourselves because you all are Black. You all are Black! And you all sitting up here beating and attacking a Black woman that’s in power,” she said. “You all should be ashamed of yourselves.

SPENDING SPREE CONTINUES?

Henyard and Freeman both flew first class to Washington, D.C. in January to attend a meeting of the U.S. Conference of Mayors. It 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 airfare. There were two charges to the township credit card from the U.S. Conference of Mayors in January totaling $5,000.

Also in January – the same week Freeman filed for bankruptcy protection – township 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’s unclear what Dolton residents are spending to finance Henyard’s taste for travel because her administration has ignored open records requests in violation of an order from the Illinois Attorney General.

WATCH: THE MAYOR, MISTRUST AND MONEY: A RECAP OF WGN INVESTIGATES” REPORTING ON TIFFANY HENYARD

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