Ex-state official who granted Howard Buffett training waiver charged with fraud

Fischer also was indicted by a grand jury of committing official misconduct/forbidden act. All four charges are Class 3 felonies.

The Herald & Review first revealed Fischer was the subject of a criminal probe in December 2021. News of the indictments was broken by the Springfield-based news outlet, Capitol Fax.

Fischer had been executive director of the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, the ILETSB, and was fired Sept. 8, 2021, after an investigation into his activities was completed by the executive inspector general’s office, a state government watchdog.

READ THE CHARGES AGAINST BRENT FISCHER

That probe concluded that Fischer should not have granted a waiver to Buffett, which allowed Buffett to serve as a sheriff’s deputy even though he was short of the 560 hours of training required to be a sworn officer. Buffett had been appointed Macon County Sheriff in 2017 and served for 14 months. He had planned to run for the sheriff's job in 2022 but later scrapped the plans when he realized training standards had changed and he was no longer qualified for the post.  

The Herald & Review then learned about a criminal investigation being carried out by the Illinois State Police after filing freedom of information requests asking for more details.

In urging the ILETSB denial of the Herald & Review's request for various documents and emails between Fischer and Buffett’s namesake philanthropic foundation, state police said it would interfere with the agency's investigation into an “allegation of fraud and official misconduct.”

State Police Master Sgt. Matthew Barber, a member of the State Police Division of Criminal Investigation, had described their investigation in these terms: “According to the allegations, the employee within their official capacity, created and supplied a benefactor with an official document without proper authority.”

Barber’s name is on the four-count indictment now on file with Macon County Circuit Court. Fischer was arraigned Jan. 4 and is scheduled to appear for a pretrial hearing Feb. 23 before Judge Jeffrey Geisler.

The forgery indictments allege Fischer “knowingly made a false document or altered a document to make it false” so it looked like an official ILETSB officer certification.

He is then accused of affixing the electronic signature of ILETSB Chairman Tim Gleason — a former Decatur city manager — to the false document without Gleason’s authorization and then issuing or delivering the document.

The final count of the indictment said Fischer issued a Law Enforcement Officer certificate “to a person” — apparently a reference to Buffett — “not qualified by law to receive one, knowing that such person did not meet the requirements for receiving such a certificate.”

Buffett himself has never been accused of any wrongdoing connected with the case. He did not respond to requests for comment for this story. The case is now being prosecuted by Macon County State’s Attorney Scott Rueter and a request for comment has been left with his office.

Fischer is represented by Springfield-based defense attorney Richard D. Frazier. He told the Herald & Review on Thursday the entire case is without merit and the certificate in question was always meant to be an honorary one granted without the intent to defraud anyone.

“It’s puzzling because in the charges, as asserted, nobody was defrauded,” said Frazier. “It was an honorary certificate that was given to him (Buffett) and it is not capable of defrauding anyone.”

Frazier said he was also mystified about why the case had been filed at all in Macon County, a venue he said had no connection with the alleged criminal acts, which all are said to have taken place in Springfield.

“I am very puzzled about that, too,” he added.

The inspector general’s investigation that led to Fischer’s firing had noted numerous connections between the Howard G. Buffett Foundation and the ILETSB.

The foundation was listed as a generous backer of ILETSB projects and had earmarked $15 million to build the Macon County Law Enforcement Training Center which opened in Decatur in 2017.

The investigation said Buffett had been asked for a $10,000 check to fund K-9 training equipment and, within hours of acknowledging receipt of the check in January 2019, an email was sent from Fischer’s office granting a request from a supporter of the philanthropist seeking the waiver of the law enforcement training hours standard for him.

The inspector general’s report added: “Certification of law enforcement officer status, especially considering the significant public interest in maintaining integrity in that process, should not be minimized nor should it be provided based on someone’s ability to financially contribute… to the law enforcement community.”

Fischer has always argued that the waiver granted to Buffett was honorary, although Buffett himself was quoted by the inspector general that he had not been aware of its honorary nature. He was also quoted as saying he had never provided any funds or support “in exchange for something to benefit himself.”