CHICAGO — Illinois State Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed charges Tuesday against the brother of murder victim Sheri Coleman for the alleged misappropriation of $33,000 from a charity raising money in the slain family’s honor.

According to Madigan’s website, she filed the complaint against Mario Decicco of La Grange Park for misappropriating the funds from the violence prevention charity in which he was acting president.

Madigan says the charity was created in memory of Sheri Coleman and her sons Garrett and Gavin, who were strangled in their Columbia, Ill. home by their husband and father Chris Coleman in May 2009.

An investigation revealed that only $2,550 of the charity’s funds appeared to have been spent on violence prevention efforts.

The alleged misappropriated funds, amounting to $33,173, appeared to have been improperly withdrawn as cash and spent on expenses not related with the charity’s mission.

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

The Attorney General has asked the court to remove Decicco as the charity’s president and dissolve the charity, as well as hold Decicco liable for the misappropriated funds.

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