The former police chief and city administrator for Velda City, a small town in north St. Louis County, is accused of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from his employer.
Federal prosecutors made the charges against Daniel Paulino, 51, public on Thursday. He faces three counts of wire fraud: one for using the city’s credit card to pay for a Caribbean vacation, one for using the card to pay for personal car repairs and one for using the card to buy supplies for a pool at a former residence.
All told, the indictment says, Paulino stole more than $300,000 from the city. In addition to using the city’s credit card for personal expenses, he's accused of transferring money to several businesses owned by either him or his spouse.
Paulino did not have an attorney listed in court records, and he did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent to an email connected to one of the businesses named in the scheme.
Velda City Mayor Derrick Gill said he had first raised questions about Paulino’s spending in 2022 when he was an alderman for the city’s 1st Ward. But he said the mayor and the rest of the board had been aligned with Paulino and refused to act, which forced him to report the matter to the FBI.
“I want to congratulate the FBI on their investigation to bring justice for the residents of Velda City,” Gill said.
