After her election, a Democrat mayor announced the members of her administration. However, citizens soon discovered that a man she hired to inspect private homes was convicted of kidnapping, beating, and gang-raping children — and now he’s facing new charges.
A newly elected Illinois mayor kicked off her term with a scandal so disturbing that even the trustees turned against her. Dolton Mayor Tiffany Henyard, 37, caused outrage after it was revealed that one of the people she hired as a code enforcement officer was convicted of a series of heinous crimes.
Just months after taking office, Henyard hired 46-year-old Lavelle Redmond to serve as a code enforcement officer, a position that requires him to enter private homes and businesses to make sure they are up to code. The only problem is that Redmond is a registered child sex offender on the Illinois State Police child sex offender registry, Fox 23 News reports.
Redmond spent 24 years in prison for the brutal gang rape and assault of two underage girls in 1991. He and three other people kidnapped the children and brought them to an abandoned garage where they took turns raping them. The group then beat the girls with boards, pistol-whipped them, hit them with bricks, and stomped on their bodies before taking their clothing and leaving them battered and naked.
Now, citizens are shocked and concerned that a convicted child rapist and registered sex offender will have unfettered access to their homes, businesses, and families.
“Crazy. I don’t know. He won’t get in my house though,” one woman said.
“I will be terrified to know now if he had come to my house to do a code inspection. I’ll be terrified,” another resident said.
“Oh my god. Don’t they supposed to do background checks before they allow these people to in these kind of positions?” a third woman said.
Mayor Henyard dodged all questions concerning her decision to hire Redmond. A spokesperson for her office claimed they were taking the information very seriously and launched an investigation into Redmond’s background but refused to say whether he was still on the city payroll. Incredibly, he was hired to go door-to-door to meet with citizens.
As disturbing as Redmond’s criminal history is, he was still not out of trouble with the law. In fact, since his hiring, he was charged with violating his sex offender registration requirements and was held on a $10,000 bond.
Dolton trustees said that all of Henyard’s hires were done without their consent. Additionally, this isn’t the only new hire of Mayor Henyard that’s caused an uproar. Just months after Dorthy Brown stepped down as Cook County Circuit Court Clerk, Henyard placed her back on the payroll. Brown’s resignation followed 20 years of scandals and federal investigations.
“We believe that Dorothy Brown‘s control over administrative affairs, and her influence on the mayor has not been in the best interest of the village,” said Dolton Trustee Tammy Brown.
On her campaign website, Henyard described herself as being “sensitive to the needs” of residents, vowing that her administration would be a “body of trust.” Additionally, she promised that every individual she hires will be “for the benefit of the people.”
It’s clear that Henyard either failed to carry out a proper background check or knew of Redmond’s criminal history and chose to ignore it. Either way, she has directly endangered the lives of Dolton residents with her incompetence.
Henyard has only begun her mayoral term and has already proved herself to be a detriment to her city. Most disturbingly, citizens voted her into office and have few options when it comes to removing her.
