Brent Headlee
FLORA – A former city employee has been charged with a felony, sending speculation through the community about past actions of the accused.
Brent A. Headlee, 59, of Flora, was arrested on the afternoon of August 30.
The arrest, said Flora Police Chief John Nicolson the next day, was the result of a three-year investigation that alleges from August 2014 to August 2017, electricity and other City of Flora utilities were mis-used by Headlee.
Despite questions posed for clarification, however, no public officials have offered much more than that, leading to the speculation that this is a simple situation of Headlee allegedly stealing electricity and possibly gas and water from the city through either illicit hookup, or through fraudulent claims that he was being overbilled on his monthly statement.
The charge is a class 2 felony, and as regards amounts, the charging documents show only that it’s theft from a School, Place of Worship or Government, between $500 and $10,000.
The bail in the case might reflect some of that, but Clay County didn’t get much: The bail was $20,000, the cash bond was $2,000 to secure Headlee’s release.
While Nicholson didn’t elaborate on very much beyond what the press release said, he did indicate that Headlee had retired as a city employee in 2013.
Other sources have advised that Headlee’s retirement at a young age (55) had to do with health reasons, which may also play into the situation as it stands with the alleged utility theft: That his health was bad and either he had to do what he did, or he didn’t know he was doing what he was doing.
Whatever the case, apparently State’s Attorney Joel Powless didn’t buy it, and filed the charge after the investigation, conducted by Flora Police, was concluded.
There’s been no word on whether any authorities believe that the alleged theft of utilities was occurring prior to 2014.
Authorities in Illinois, in charging felonies against a suspect, can only go back three years on basic felonies and 18 months on misdemeanors (the exceptions are with murder, arson, kidnapping and now, sexual assault of a child). Many cases filed in downstate reveal that the alleged crime was going on much longer than the charging period (in the case of Mt. Carmel resident Kevin Williams, as an example, he was alleged to have been thieving from an elderly woman for more than 20 years, but could only be charged for the previous three from the moment of discovery of the crime).
Headlee has been set only for an upcoming bond date hearing, that to be held on October 2. Why there’s been no arraignment, first appearance nor prelim set, which is the usual order of appearance, is unknown, and has, again, prompted much speculation regarding favoritism, since Headlee was a former city employee.