McCann demands resignation of public health director

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WAND) - A former Illinois state senator accused of using campaign money for personal expenses has been federally indicted. 

Sam McCann, 51, faces charges of fraud, money laundering and tax evasion. Prosecutors said from May 2015 to June 2020, McCann was part of a scheme to convert over $200,000 that came from donations and contributions to his campaign committees in order to pay himself and make personal purchases. 

He's accused of concealing the alleged fraud from donors, the public, the Illinois State Board of Elections and law enforcement. 

McCann was state senator for the 49th District of Illinois from 2011 to 2013, then served for the redrawn 50th District from 2013 to January 2019. He formed the Conservative Party of Illinois and launched a bid for governor in 2018 that did not succeed. When he lived in Carlinville, he owned and operated two businesses related to construction.

He had organized multiple political committees registered with the Illinois State Board of Elections, including Sam McCann for Senate, Sam McCann for Senate Committee, McCann for Illinois and the Conservative Party of Illinois. The indictment against him said his committees received over $5 million in campaign donations from April 2011 to November 2018. 

McCann is accused of using campaign funds to buy personal vehicles, pay personal debts, make mortgage payments and pay himself. Alleged actions include the following, according to a press release from prosecutors: 

  • McCann allegedly used more than $60,000 in campaign funds to partially fund the purchases of a 2017 Ford Expedition in April 2017 and a 2018 Ford F-250 truck in July 2018, which he titled in his own name and used for his personal travel. McCann then used campaign funds for loan payments on the F-250 and for fuel and insurance expenses for both vehicles, while at the same time using campaign funds to reimburse mileage expense claims which he did not incur.

  • In April 2018, McCann allegedly used $18,000 in campaign funds to purchase a 2018 recreational travel trailer, and in May 2018, used $25,000 in campaign funds to buy a 2006 recreational motor home, both of which McCann titled in his personal name. McCann established an online account with a recreational vehicle rental business in Ohio and listed the vehicles for rent identifying Sam McCann as the owner. McCann then established a second account with the same rental business and identified himself as William McCann, a potential renter, with a different residential address and email than those he listed as the owner. From approximately May 2018 to June 2018, McCann, while representing himself as the renter, William, rented both the travel trailer and motor home from Sam, the owner, through the RV rental business. McCann caused a total of approximately $62,666 in campaign funds be used to pay the rental cost of the vehicles. The rental business retained approximately $9,838 for commission and paid McCann, as the owner, approximately $52,827 by direct deposit to McCann’s personal checking account. McCann reimbursed the campaign accounts $18,000, resulting in more than $77,000 in campaign funds used to buy and rent from himself.

  • On or about Oct. 4, 2016, McCann allegedly used a $20,000 cashier’s check funded by a campaign account and issued to himself to pay off a personal loan, including legal fees, that had originally been issued to him as an equipment loan in 2011 and was in collection by the bank due to non-payment.

  • From May 2015 to August 2020, McCann allegedly used campaign funds to pay approximately $64,750 on two separate personal mortgage loans that were secured by his former residence in Carlinville and an adjoining property used as an office for his construction business.

  • In November 2018, after an unsuccessful campaign for Governor of Illinois, when he was no longer a candidate for office and did not financially support any other candidate, and continuing to June 2020, McCann allegedly caused the Conservative Party of Illinois to issue approximately $187,000 in payments to himself personally and an additional $52,282 in payments for payroll taxes. Using a payroll service, McCann was allegedly able to conceal himself as the payee for the expenditures from the campaign account.

  • The indictment also alleges that approximately $50,000 in campaign funds were used for personal expenses including Green Dot credit card payments related to a family vacation in Colorado and other personal expenses, charges from Apple iTunes, Amazon, a skeet and trap club, Cabela’s, Scheels, Best Buy, a gun store, and cash withdrawals.

McCann faces a charge of tax evasion, which prosecutors said is related to his joint return for the 2018 calendar year. They said he failed to report income from 2018 rental payments to himself for an RV trailer and motor home. 

He's accused of using a $10,000 check issued by a campaign account in order to make a down payment to a Shipman business for a motor home. The payment was not completed and the business sent McCann a $10,000 refund check, which prosecutors said he put in his personal checking account and did not report as income received. 

McCann faces seven counts of wire fraud, one count of money laundering and one charge of tax evasion. Should he be found guilty, each wire fraud count and the money laundering count would carry a statutory penalty of up to 20 years in prison. The statutory penalty for tax evasion is up to five years behind bars. 

The suspect is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Tom Schanzle-Haskins via telephone conference at 2 p.m. on Feb. 16.