Former Detective and Security Business Owner Kim McAfee Sentenced to More Than Two Years in Prison and Must Pay More Than $73,000

Kim L. McAfee, 48, of East St. Louis, IL, a former Washington Park detective and the owner and operator of private security company, KLM Loss Prevention, Inc., was sentenced today in the United States District Court to 26 months’ imprisonment, two years’ supervised release, assessments totaling $3,800.00, and restitution totaling $69,274.36, Stephen R. Wigginton, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois announced. In August, McAfee pled guilty to a one-count information charging him with lying in the course of a civil rights investigation and to a 37-count indictment charging him with fraud related to underpaying employees on federally subsidized contracts, and lying about it on government forms and to government investigators.

McAfee previously pled guilty to 16 counts of making a false statement, 15 counts of mail fraud, three counts of wire fraud, and three counts of falsifying records in a federal investigation. McAfee admitted to a scheme in which he falsified records claiming to pay more money to his employees than he was actually paying under contracts with School District 189 and the East St. Louis Housing Authority, which allowed McAfee to fraudulently retain money due to his employees. He also admitted, following a Department of Labor investigation that found that McAfee underpaid his employees for overtime, that he failed to pay back due wages, but provided false records purporting to show that he had paid his employees the back wages. As part of the plea agreement, McAfee must make restitution to his employees for wages that are owed. The court has ordered a total amount of $66,928.17 be paid to the employees in restitution.

McAfee also previously pled guilty to a separate charge of making a false statement within the jurisdiction of the executive branch of the United States. McAfee was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for potential violations of civil rights following an incident in which McAfee shot into a vehicle occupied by two men who had stopped at the BP Gas Station at Exit 6 in Washington Park. The men were placed in the Washington Park jail for almost 24 hours and then released without charges. McAfee explained to agents that he believed that he had observed a hand to hand drug transaction and that he ordered the driver of the vehicle to stop. McAfee also said that he feared for the safety of pedestrians in front of the vehicle so he fired into the vehicle in an effort to convince the driver to stop. McAfee failed to follow protocol and did not inform his chief that he had discharged his firearm and did not complete a report of the incident. When further questioned by agents, McAfee provided false statements, including claims that he had informed his chief of the shooting and that he had completed a firearms discharge report. The occupants of the vehicle denied any drug transaction, no illegal drugs were ever found on the occupants or in the vehicle, and no case was ever submitted for prosecution by McAfee. As part of the plea agreement, McAfee must pay restitution to the shooting victim for a chipped tooth during the arrest, damage to his vehicle, and tow and impound fees in the total amount of $2,346.19.

As a further part of this plea agreement, McAfee may never work as a police officer again.

“The vast majority of law enforcement officers uphold the law and the vast majority of business people obey the law. As both a police officer and business owner, McAfee did neither. He operated as a crook with a badge. He violated his oath to uphold the very laws that he flaunted. He cheated low income employees in an economically disadvantaged area. He lied to the FBI agents who were investigating a very troubling shooting incident. His prosecution should put other police officers, public officials, and business leaders on notice that we will aggressively investigate and charge cases of fraud and corruption.” said United States Attorney Wigginton. “The citizens of Southern Illinois have an absolute right to trust in the integrity of sworn law enforcement officials. Prosecutions like this will ensure that they do.”

The prosecution of this case follows an investigation by the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General-Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Office of Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation, the Metro-East Public Corruption Task Force, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The prosecution was handled by Assistant United States Attorney Kevin F. Burke.