CHICAGO - A former mayor of the Chicago suburb of Ford Heights has been placed on electronic monitoring after being arrested on felony theft and misconduct charges.
Charles Griffin is accused of siphoning more than $147,000 of public funds into two secret bank accounts when he was mayor from 2009 to 2017. Cook County prosecutors say he used the money to make personal purchases at Walmart, Home Depot, Menards and LA Fitness.
Ford Heights Mayor Annie Coulter, who defeated Griffin in his 2017 re-election bid, uncovered the abnormal accounts shortly after she took office and reported it to authorities.
The 63-year-old Griffin spent the night in jail after turning himself in to authorities Wednesday.
At Thursday's bond hearing, defense attorney Phillip Turner told the judge his client disputed the facts of the case and was looking forward to fighting the charges.
