Search warrant reveals FBI is investigating former Carlyle police chief

The police department in Carlyle, Illinois, as seen on Friday, Jan. 30, 2026. (Capitol News Illinois photo by Beth Hundsdorfer)

CARLYLE — A search warrant executed by the FBI revealed the target of a criminal probe was then Carlyle Police Chief Mark Pingsterhaus, who leased office space in the police station to a federal task force that battles public corruption in southern Illinois.

The FBI is investigating Pingsterhaus, a 30-year law enforcement veteran, for possible wire fraud and theft of federal funds, according to the search warrant, obtained by Capitol News Illinois and the Illinois Answers Project. The FBI rents space in the Carlyle police station in downstate Clinton County.

No criminal charges have been filed against Pingsterhaus, who resigned in December, and neither the city nor the FBI would discuss the nature of the allegations.

Pingsterhaus could not be reached for comment.

In November, under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, the two news organizations requested a copy of any search warrant served on the city after a press release posted on the city’s Facebook page publicly confirmed a federal investigation into Pingsterhaus.

Carlyle City Administrator Brad Myers initially declined multiple requests from reporters for a copy of the search warrant, but eventually provided one last week — more than two months later.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Reona J. Daly signed the search warrant on Nov. 12. It stated the FBI sought financial records from Pingsterhaus’ office at the Carlyle Police Department, including cash, receipts, ledgers and lease agreements related to expenses paid with city funds. It further sought records of checks, credit cards, gift cards and petty cash.

The search warrant also sought any correspondence, gifts, keys, photographs or other items “indicating a personal relationship or travel” with a person whose name was redacted by Myers, who stated the person was a “private citizen.” Reporters have learned she is a public official in a neighboring county.

The FBI requested police department expenses dating back to 2012, when Pingsterhhaus became chief, and payroll, leave information and travel authorizations and reimbursements for Pingsterhaus starting in 2024. They also requested Pingsterhaus’ personnel record, in a subpoena dated six days after the search warrant.

The search warrant included a photo of Pingsterhaus’ office door at the Carlyle police station — just steps away from the home of the FBI’s Southern Illinois Transnational Organized Crime West Task Force, or TOC-W.  Pingsterhaus signed the lease with the FBI to house the task force in 2021.

The arrangement was mutually beneficial. Both agencies had a similar mission; Carlyle police patrolling and investigating crimes in the Clinton County town of around 3,200, and the TOC-W Task Force focusing on international drug trafficking rings operating in southern Illinois, as well as money laundering, murder, extortion, kidnapping and public corruption.

The feds agreed to pay up to $180,000 renovation costs and $3,750 a month in rent to the city for space in the police station located just down the street from Carlyle Lake, a state recreation area, under the terms of the lease obtained under the Illinois Freedom of Information Act.

Though the 12-member federal task force would have their own office secured behind a keypad, task force members and Carlyle police officers would heat up leftovers in the same microwave of a shared kitchen; pass each other going in and out of meetings of the shared conference room, and use the same restrooms.

Two other federal agencies provide investigative assistance to the task force, including the Drug Enforcement Agency and Homeland Security Investigations — the investigative arm of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

For years, the local police and federal agents quietly shared the space. Then, on Nov. 19, 2025, city officials received word of an ongoing FBI investigation of Pingsterhaus. Neither Mayor Judy Smith nor city administrator Myers would discuss the nature of the investigation.

Search for the search warrant

A week after the federal investigation became public, Capitol News Illinois and the Illinois Answers Project requested a copy of the search warrant and Myers initially said he “cannot provide any information” on the matter involving Pingsterhaus because “it is still an active FBI investigation.”

A month later, Myers said in a Dec. 22 email that the city was not in possession of a search warrant served on its police department. Myers later provided a copy to the Attorney General’s Public Access Counselor in response to a request by reporters to review Myers’ denial.

“I was in the process of writing you a reply on Friday afternoon and decided to look through all my paperwork, one more time, to ensure that I, in fact, did not have nor have I ever received a search warrant for the city of Carlyle.  As I was reviewing my files again, page by page, I did in fact discover that I do have a copy of the search warrant,” Myers wrote in an email to the public access counselor attorney Shannon Barnaby.

Reporters received a copy of the search warrant by email the same day as Barnaby.

The city also provided a copy of Pingsterhaus’ personnel records. Those records included a letter from Smith, the mayor, to Pingsterhaus dated Nov. 25 that referenced a visit Pingsterhaus made to Smith’s house a few days after he was placed on leave.

“During our discussion, you informed me of your desire to resign in lieu of being terminated,” Smith wrote. “I do intend to remove you from your position of police chief due to the allegations and your admissions of wrongdoing.”

Those specific wrongdoings that Pingsterhaus admitted to Smith have not been made public.

Smith then warned Pingsterhaus to stay away from the police station and city hall and submit his resignation within seven days or he would be fired. On Dec. 1, Pingsterhaus resigned his $115,000-a-year position in a one-line letter. Last month, he also withdrew his bid to become the Republican candidate for Clinton County sheriff.

Efforts to reach Pingsterhaus over the past two months have been unsuccessful. Reporters showed up at his house in late November, just as a black pickup pulled into the driveway. As a reporter approached, the driver, who resembled Pingsterhaus, put the truck in reverse, backed out of the driveway and left the area. In December, a no-trespassing sign was seen near his front door.

Pingsterhaus’ law enforcement career began in 1995 with the Breese Police Department, becoming a full-time officer two years later. He also joined the Clinton County Sheriff’s Office on a part-time basis. In November 1997, he went to work for Carlyle and became chief in 2012.

Just 18 months before the announcement that he was the target of a federal investigation, Pingsterhaus graduated from the FBI Academy — a 10-week leadership and development course at the bureau’s headquarters in Quantico, Virginia, that emphasizes leadership, academics and physical fitness for senior law enforcement officers.

Earlier this month, Jason Herzing, a long-time member of the FBI task force on loan from the Carlyle Police Department, was named the new police chief with a $100,000 annual salary.

Janelle O’Dea is an investigative reporter for the Illinois Answers Project, an investigative and solutions journalism arm of the Better Government Association.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.