Joliet Park District Financial Scandal: Police Investigating

JOLIET, IL — Police are investigating potential financial improprieties by a former Joliet Park District employee, the district confirmed in a statement Thursday night. On Friday morning, the Will County Forest Preserve District announced that Matt Pehle has now been placed on administrative leave.

According to his LinkedIn profile, Pehle was the director of finance at the Joliet Park District from April 2013 until he left in December 2019. In January 2020, Pehle became the chief financial officer for the Will County Forest Preserve District. At that time, Pehle replaced John Gerl as chief financial officer after Gerl retired from the forest preserve.

On Friday, forest preserve spokeswoman Cindy Cain said she could not comment on the matter involving Pehle, saying it's a personnel issue.

On Thursday night, Joliet Park District officials said they posted the announcement to their website as "part of the Joliet Park District's ongoing effort to improve operations and transparency," but said "due to the ongoing nature of this investigation, the Park District is unable to provide any further information or comment at this time."

The Joliet Police Department is spearheading a criminal investigation into financial records at the park district, a source confirmed for Patch.

"It was a large, large sum. It's thousands, not just single-digit thousands," the source said.

No criminal charges have been filed.

On Friday, Joliet Park Board Vice President Joe Clement, who is also running for a Joliet City Council seat on April 6, told Patch that he had observed some financial issues at the park district and he notified the park district's new finance director.

"We now have an investigation going on by the Joliet Police Department and I really don't want to comment anymore to jeopardize the investigation," Clement said. "I have all the confidence that every stone will be turned over in this investigation."

Joliet Park Board President Sue Gulas declined to comment on the issue

"I cannot comment on any of the details of any ongoing investigation," Gulas informed Patch.

The park district's statement indicates that since 2018, a number of changes have been made to raise the district's professional standards, including the hiring of a new executive director, superintendent and director of finance, and the implementation of new accounting software, updating of purchasing procedures and planned retention of a new auditing firm.

"The Park District will make additional information available to the public as and when circumstances permit," the statement read.

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