Key keywords: Stewart city credit card misuse, Mayor's office investigation, municipal business unrelated expenditure, public official expense fraud, city government financial audit, local government ethics violation, public fund misappropriation, municipal expense policy reform The Maplewood Mayor’s Office released the full findings of its 5-week internal investigation on Wednesday, confirming that all $129,400 in charges made by former Department of Public Works director Brian Stewart on his official city-issued credit card between January 2021 and April 2024 have no connection to authorized municipal operations. The probe was first launched in mid-May after the city’s annual independent financial audit flagged 137 anomalous transactions that had no supporting documentation or official work justification in Stewart’s submitted expense reports. Investigators reviewed every transaction receipt linked to Stewart’s card, cross-referenced charge dates with his official work calendar and city event records, and interviewed 21 current and former city employees who collaborated with Stewart on off-site projects over the three-year period. Flagged charges include $42,000 in luxury hotel stays in Aspen, Miami and Cabo San Lucas, $18,500 in private jet charter fees, $12,300 in designer clothing and jewelry purchases, $9,700 in restaurant bills at high-end dining establishments outside of Maplewood, and even $7,200 in annual payments for a personal yacht slip in the Gulf of Mexico. Stewart, who resigned from his $118,000-per-year city post in late April shortly after the audit was announced, initially claimed all charges were tied to out-of-state infrastructure conferences and vendor negotiation meetings. However, investigators found no record of Stewart registering for any of the conferences he cited, no vendor in the city’s approved supplier list matched the payees on the credit card statements, and none of his colleagues reported traveling with him for any of the dated trips. Maplewood Mayor Lisa Henderson stated during a press briefing following the report’s release that the findings represent a “gross breach of public trust.” The mayor’s office has already referred the full investigation file to the county district attorney’s office for potential criminal theft and fraud charges, and has proposed sweeping updates to the city’s expense policy: all credit card transactions over $100 will require pre-approval from a department head and the city finance office, all receipts must be submitted within 3 business days of a purchase, and all department heads’ credit card records will be audited independently every quarter to prevent similar misuse. The Maplewood City Council will hold a special hearing next Tuesday to vote on the policy updates and discuss civil action to recover the full misappropriated amount from Stewart.