Uncle Suspected of Misusing Murdered Sister's Charity Money

The Illinois Attorney General is going after a LaGrange Park man suspected of misusing a charity fund set up in the name of his sister, who was murdered by the security chief for a televangelist minister.

Lisa Madigan is suing Mario D. DeCicco to dissolve the “Sheri Ann & Her Boys” fund, established in 2009 after Sheri Ann Coleman and her sons, ages 11 and 9, were strangled to death in their beds in downstate Columbia, IL. Her philandering husband, Christopher Coleman, was convicted of killing his family to avoid a divorce that would have exposed his affairs and a sex tape and threatened his job. After the deaths of his wife and young sons, the charity fund received an outpouring of support from the community.

About $35,000 was raised.

But Madigan claims DeCicco spent just $2,550 on efforts to prevent family violence, the charity’s stated mission, and kept the rest of the cash. Originally, he intended to build a memorial in town for his sister and nephews.

“The circumstances of this case are extremely disheartening,” Madigan said in a statement. “I am filing this action to ensure that the misappropriated charitable funds are recovered and dedicated to violence prevention efforts as originally intended.”

The lawsuit alleges violations of the state’s Charitable Trust and Solicitation for Charity Acts.

STLToday.com first reported on questions about the fund in August 2014:

In an email response to questions, DeCicco wrote ... “It’s been 4 years. I gave an anonymous cash donation to a women’s shelter in Chicago. I hope that’s okay with you. What do they want from me? Can’t I please try to go on with my life?”

In a follow-up telephone call, DeCicco said that a few months after CBS’ 48 Hours ran a story on the crime in 2012, he withdrew all of the not-for-profit’s remaining funds — about $28,000 — and took it to a women’s shelter on the south side of Chicago. He said he handed over the cash and left. He said he wanted to do it anonymously because he wasn’t trying to take credit or “be a hero.”

Madigan asserts that DeCicco spent the money on himself.

Coleman, 31 when she was killed, was an Air Force veteran and grew up in Berwyn.