Olympian Village Alderman Sentenced for Embezzling from City Coffers

St. Louis – Gary Atchley, 54, of Perryville, Missouri, was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Wednesday for wire fraud.  He was also ordered to pay $187,252.60 in restitution.  He appeared in federal court before U.S. District Henry Autrey.

According to court documents, between 2008 and 2016, Atchley, who was serving as a city alderman for Olympian Village, embezzled $187,252.60 in city funds.  At no time was Atchley an authorized signatory on the Olympian Village account.  He used the account to pay personal expenses, including making checks to cash and writing checks directly to himself.  Approximately $58,000 was bought in personal merchandise using pre-authorized debit transactions and the $127,000 of checks he wrote to himself were not authorized by the Olympian Village government.

"Today's sentence is just," said Special Agent in Charge Richard Quinn of the FBI St. Louis Division. "The harm of public corruption manifests itself not only in financial loss, but also the loss of faith in government and public officials."

“I’m thankful we have a U.S. Attorney that has been aggressive in addressing these types of crimes,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Dave Marshak.  “I commend the Detectives and Agent that worked hard to bring this case to a successful resolution. Stealing from this community is unacceptable and I’m glad that he is being held accountable.”

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department.  Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwen Carroll is handling the case for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.