William Toulios, the former superintendent of Argo Community High School District 217, has been charged with theft and official misconduct for allegedly using a district-issued credit card to pay for more than $10,000 in personal expenses, including adult websites, golf equipment, and gift cards.
Toulios, 46, faces one count of theft of government property between $10,000 and $100,000, one count of theft between $10,000 and $100,000, one count of forgery, and two counts of official misconduct.
He appeared Friday, July 10, for arraignment at the Cook County Courthouse in Bridgeview, pleaded not guilty, and was released pretrial. The case is scheduled for Aug. 24, 2026.
Toulios resigned as superintendent in November 2025. Shortly thereafter, State Police confirmed they were investigating the case.
State Police investigation
According to prosecutors, an Illinois State Police investigation found that between February 2021 and March 2024, Toulios allegedly used the district-issued credit card to make more than $10,000 in unauthorized purchases.
The charges include more than $4,000 for adult-content websites, more than $4,000 on golf equipment, and more than $5,000 in Visa gift cards, some of which were allegedly used to finance additional adult website expenses.
Toulios also allegedly submitted a fraudulent invoice to a subordinate employee and directed the employee to create additional fraudulent invoices to conceal the unauthorized spending.
“Every dollar entrusted to a school district is meant to support students, classrooms and educational opportunities – not personal expenses,” Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke said in a statement. “Public officials who abuse taxpayer resources for their own personal gain are not above the law.”
Argo High School District 217 serves about 1,800 students and is one of the largest line items on property tax bills for local residents in Summit, Bridgeview, Justice, Bedford Park, Willow Springs and part of Hickory Hills.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Victor Yanz, supervisor of the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Public Corruption Unit.
Toulios’ November 2025 resignation came after months of criticism over more than $8,000 in personal charges he made on a district credit card.
A concerned citizen inquiry started the probe
Public records requests filed in April 2024 by a concerned resident revealed payments to adult-content websites, nearly $4,700 in prepaid Visa gift cards, and other expenses with no connection to school business.
Toulios repaid less than $600 and the school board’s initial handling of the matter drew sharp backlash from residents, staff and alumni.
Mark Karge, an Argo graduate, community member and certified public accountant, obtained the financial information through a FOIA request and reviewed nearly two years of credit card statements.
In April 2025, Karge told the board of education that he found thousands of dollars in suspect transactions.
Among the charges he cited:
- $2,550 to Epoch, a third-party payment processor commonly used for adult entertainment websites
- $1,098 to Slushy, a subscription-based video platform that allows creators — many in the adult industry — to share explicit content and earn money through tips, messages, and subscriptions
- $4,697 in prepaid Visa gift cards
- Additional memberships, medical expenses, and sports-related fees with no clear link to school business
“The spending only stopped after I submitted the FOIA,” Karge told the board at the time. “My biggest question is: Was the board aware of these facts? And if so, why was Dr. Toulios allowed to pay back only a fraction and face no consequences?”
Board orders investigation: Viagra, Amazon gift cards, adult sites, food, and more
On May 5, 2025, after Karge brought the issue to light, board president Dr. Jennifer Grenier promised a thorough investigation.
In November 2025, shortly after Toulios resigned, the board released its own findings regarding the Toulios spending spree.
The report, conducted by the accounting firms of Akerman LLP and Meaden & Moore LLP and numbering 111 pages, showed Toulios spent thousands of district dollars on adult websites, erectile dysfunction medication, meals and Amazon gift cards.
Investigators had spent months interviewing Toulios, school board members, and staffers. They concluded that from late 2022 until the spring of 2024 Toulios engaged in reckless use of the district credit card and spent thousands of dollars on unauthorized personal purchases.
The report found Toulios actively tried to cover up the improper spending. He said his credit card had been compromised. He blamed the porn charges on his son. He urged school staff to create fake receipts and failed to provide required documentation for much of his credit card use. He said some adult website charges were for a legitimate conservative website.
He also declined to share records with investigators citing privacy concerns in an attempt to obstruct the investigation.
The report concluded oversight was lacking and the protocols and policies for approving credit card purchases were not followed.
That failing allowed Toulios to buy $25,000 worth of Amazon gift cards, make donations to a local church and his son’s hockey team, pay $3,500 for I-Pass tolls, order a package of generic Viagra that was delivered to his office at Argo High School, and to spend an estimated $5,000 on personal food and beverages.
As the investigation began, Toulios wrote in a text message to a staffer: “I am sorry I can’t lie anymore, and I can’t live with myself. I have ruined all that I hold dear in this world, and I can’t even begin to describe how much I can’t stop crying for what I did to everyone. I deserve what I have, and it’s not your fault, it is me.”
Nuha Abdessalam contributed to this report.