CLINTON - A Farmer City man who is active in community events has been charged with felony theft in connection with a fundraising raffle which never happened.

Robert McIlvain, 46, was charged with selling a donated motorcycle instead of holding a raffle to benefit a Mahomet family with three children with medical needs, DeWitt County Sheriff Roger Massey said Wednesday evening. The Farmer City man is charged with keeping sale proceeds for personal gain.

Police were alerted roughly six weeks ago to circumstances surrounding the motorcycle, the sheriff said. The actual raffle was supposed to be a year or more ago.

It was to be one of a number of fundraisers for the Mahomet family, the sheriff said. He was unsure of the extent of McIlvain's involvement in other fundraisers.

McIlvain is director of the Farmer City Merchants Association and Tourism Inc., which he founded in 2001, the sheriff said in a statement.

Part of the investigation involved checking out the merchants and tourism group, the sheriff said.

McIlvain has been involved in numerous fundraisers in the Farmer City area, including the Halloween haunted house, the sheriff's statement said.

McIlvain, who was charged Tuesday with one count of felony theft of more than $300 and less than $10,000, posted $800 and was released from custody pending further court appearances.

The value of the custom motorcycle to be raffled was much closer to the higher figure, Massey said

"We picked out the best case to pursue criminally" after investigators consulted with the DeWitt County State's attorney's office, Massey said.

"We were pretty aggressive in following up on this," said Massey, adding there are constantly fundraisers going on in the community."

"The public should have confidence in charity benefits that the proceeds of these benefits will go to the people in need," the sheriff said in a statement. "This should serve as a reminder that the public's trust in these types of benefits is not being violated."