Grundy Reporter

A federal grand jury has indicted former Kankakee River Metropolitan Agency (KRMA) Executive Director Richard Simms for allegedly defrauding the city's wastewater utilities of more than $2 million, Illinois Leaks reported last week.

From 2014 to 2018, Simms was executive director of KRMA, which treats wastewater for Kankakee, Bradley, Bourbonnais, Aroma Park, Manteno and  Chebanse. He was also superintendent of Kankakee’s Environmental Service Utility (ESU).

In addition to his public positions, Simms also owned and ran Simms Engineering, LTD, as well as launching software company Plum Flower International with his daughter, according to prosecutors.

The KMRA plant in Kankakee | https://krmawwtp.com/

“The indictment alleges that Simms fraudulently received approximately $2.2  million – $768,000 from KRMA and $1,257,000 from ESU – as payment to Simms Engineering for software development by Plum Flower International,” said a news release by the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois. “Simms allegedly circumvented  KRMA’s invoice payment procedure by submitting invoices directly to its  accounting firm. As a result, KRMA’s superintendent and administrative assistant did not approve and were unaware of the invoices.”

According to the indictment, Simms Engineering transferred more than $2 million to Plum Flower International from May 2014 to September 2018, which accounted for more than 95% of Plum Flower's income. Most of the money was used “for the personal benefit of Simms and his daughter, the owners of Plum Flower  International,” the news release said.

Only $161,000 was used by Plum Flower to develop a software application that the company then tried to sell on the open market, prosecutors said.

Simms received more than $2.5 million in salary and “legitimate payments” from 2014 to 2018, the news release said.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Office of Inspector General conducted the investigation. If convicted, Simms, who is now 73 and living in Marietta, Ohio, could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison, according to the news release.