In a tale of betrayal of public trust, the former head of the Markham Public Library, Xavier Menzies, has been found guilty of fraud and sentenced to two solid years in the confines of a federal prison for pocketing more than $770,000 that rightfully belonged to the institution he was tasked with overseeing. According to a Department of Justice report, over a decade starting in 2009, Menzies siphoned these funds through a sly routine of depositing checks made out to the Markham library into his accounts; he would later withdraw the money to cover his own expenses, including the mortgage, event tickets, and car repairs.
This scheme wasn't just a one-hit wonder as Menzies perpetuated his fraud scheme by raising his director's salary without a nod from the Board of Trustees, padding his pay for around three years until the scheme was unraveled, it was a continuous and brazen act of deception that flew under the radar for far too long. During the sentencing, U.S. District Judge Lindsay C. Jenkins ordered Menzies to not just serve time but also to return the embezzled funds in full, to the tune of $770,715.
Menzies, a 52-year-old Glenwood resident, had earlier pled guilty to the charges of wire fraud, and his actions were made public by Morris Pasqual, the Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and FBI Special Agent Douglas S. DePodesta.
The court's memorandum, voiced by Assistant U.S. Attorney Prashant Kolluri, starkly noted that "Greed and an arrogant belief that he would not be caught or significantly punished are the only explanations for why Menzies chose to engage in this fraud."
