The Kansas Department of Commerce hired a man convicted of multiple financial felony crimes to oversee millions in federal pandemic aid. He then worked as an interim city clerk in a small Kansas town.
Now he’s missing.
Jonathan L. Clayton was last seen Aug. 3. The 42-year-old had been working for Peabody, population 937, first as dogcatcher and more recently as interim city clerk after serving as the director of economic recovery for the Kansas Department of Commerce. He disappeared more than two weeks ago as his criminal history was becoming more widely known locally and his handling of American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA, funds came under increased scrutiny.
Since he disappeared, his work for various Kansas government agencies and nonprofit organizations — including the Kansas Department of Commerce, the city of Peabody, a downtown Peabody association and an obscure cemetery district in Mullinville — has been examined internally and has drawn the attention of law enforcement. He also sent out a cryptic email accusing Kansas officials of wrongdoing and hinting that he is dead.
Clayton’s husband, Christopher King, said in an interview on Monday that Clayton is under investigation for his handling of money for the state of Kansas and while serving multiple board positions in his hometown of Mullinville, a small town west of Greensburg. The Kansas Department of Commerce said it’s assisting state and federal law enforcement.
Clayton previously pleaded guilty to theft and forgery in Pennsylvania stemming from his misuse of an employer’s credit cards to bolster his and his partner’s fledgling theater company. He was sentenced in 2018 to five years probation and was ordered to pay $210,000 in restitution.
Less than a week after he was reported missing, Clayton claimed in an email purporting to be from him that his disappearance was related to his role in a “scheme” to steer pandemic aid toward pre-selected awardees at the direction of Lt. Gov. David Toland, a Democrat who is also the Kansas secretary of commerce.
Clayton alleged that Toland ordered him to be on the board of directors for the Iola Theatre Association, which Toland also served on until last year, and to fundraise for the restoration of the historic theater in Toland’s hometown during work hours at the Commerce Department. Records show that Clayton and Toland did serve together on the board.
Asked about Clayton’s allegations against Toland and other Commerce officials, a Department of Commerce spokesman did not directly answer the question and said in a statement that the agency “has been made aware of allegations of misconduct against a former employee in connection to activity that occurred after they left state employment.”
“We are reviewing the matter to determine what, if any, impact the alleged activity may have to the agency or community partners,” Commerce spokesman Patrick Lowry said.
He added that due to the ongoing investigation, “we will have no further comments at this time.”
‘Working hard to find him’
Clayton’s email came amid the growing focus on his past and new allegations of misconduct related to his time in Peabody and Mullinville.
“The only thing I have to say is that we’re continuously, every single day, working hard to find him,” said King, who sits on the Peabody City Council. “And there are lots of things that will come out later that I’m not at liberty to speak about because it involves the investigation.”
Clayton, as director of economic recovery for the Kansas Department of Commerce, oversaw programs involving millions in American Rescue Plan Act funds. He was hired as a regional project manager on Feb. 23, 2020, and was promoted Aug. 22, 2021.
The Kansas Department of Commerce said the agency didn’t know about his felony record when it hired him.
“It’s appalling,” said Rep. John Carmichael, a Wichita Democrat. “I don’t understand why the Department of Commerce would hire someone with a felony record … and place him into a position of responsibility, responsible for millions of dollars.”
One such pandemic payment from the state of Kansas went to Peabody, a small town north of Wichita in Marion County. Clayton, as director of economic recovery, helped the Peabody Main Street Association to apply for a $1.5 million BASE grant to revitalize its downtown. Clayton later became the grant administrator for the Peabody Main Street Association, where he was in charge of financial documentation and other paperwork.
Commerce demanded Aug. 6 that $740,000 be returned after the group “failed to provide the outstanding financial and narrative project reports.” Commerce says that since then it has offered the association an extension.
The Kansas Department of Commerce said Clayton had no involvement in awarding the grant while at Commerce.
Clayton said in his email that he was asked to resign by Commerce in October 2023. After that, he and King moved to Peabody and opened a craft and antique store — CK Vintage — downtown, and he handled paperwork for the Peabody Main Street Association.
He was last heard from on the afternoon of Saturday, Aug. 3. After Clayton missed two meetings set for 2 p.m., King said, he began looking for him.
Clayton disappeared the same day that he and King were served in a debt collection lawsuit, according to court documents. Newton Medical Center is suing the couple, seeking $335.95 plus interest, one of what King described in an interview as several surprise unpaid bills that have surfaced since Clayton’s disappearance.
On Aug. 8, an email account purporting to belong to Clayton sent a message to numerous state and local officials and journalists outlining allegations against Commerce and Toland. The email said “this message is only being provided after my death, I pray that those named below may be reviewed for any participation in my untimely demise.”
The Kansas Bureau of Investigation confirmed Monday night that the agency is involved in the investigation.
“The KBI has joined the investigation in Peabody involving the disappearance of the city clerk and the management of public funds,” Melissa Underwood, KBI communications director, said in a statement. “The investigation is ongoing.”
Clayton’s sister, Jessica Favela, said that her brother had scheduled the message to go out Thursdays at 9 a.m. unless he turned it off each week. In an interview, Favela didn’t want to discuss the specifics of Clayton’s case but described him as someone unlikely to run.
“You would be hard-pressed to find a person who met him who didn’t like him. He’s really charismatic and friendly and just extremely smart,” Favela said. “And everybody who comes across his path generally likes him as a whole.”
King would not say whether Clayton shared with him the concerns about Toland and the Department of Commerce that were outlined in the mysterious email.
“I have to understand, once he’s caught, what kind of mental state that he’s in,” King said. “I would not say anything at this point negative about David Toland.”
“He worked out of town when he worked for the Commerce Department,” King said. “So I never even saw his workplace. I only know information that he’s relayed to me, and, at this point, it’s just all hearsay.
King said he doesn’t know everything that Clayton could have been involved in recently or while at the Commerce Department.
“So far as from what we can see, there’s been audits and everything else, it doesn’t appear that he’s done anything illegal here in Peabody,” King said. “And so this (criminal investigation) is pertaining to when he was at the Commerce Department, shortly thereafter, and when he was handling the books, I guess, for the Mullinville groups that he was handling it for.”
Theater fraud
Clayton’s financial felonies stem from his time as an administrative assistant at vRide, a ridesharing platform in Philadelphia, and as president of a theater company called Brainspunk.
Clayton and King operated Brainspunk first in New York and later reopened in Philadelphia. The IRS granted Brainspunk nonprofit status in 2013, but the organization didn’t file any Form 990 records accounting for its receipts or expenses. Its nonprofit status was revoked May 15, 2017, for failing to file three years in a row, IRS records show.
An affidavit of probable cause filed in Clayton’s criminal case implicates both Clayton, president of Brainspunk, and King, director of the theater, in a fraudulent scheme to steal more than $200,000 from vRide to fund the Brainspunk Theatre. Clayton was executive assistant to vRide’s CEO.
King was later arrested and released and all charges against him were dropped, he said in an interview. He said that Clayton acted alone and that he had “absolutely no idea” that Clayton was using vRide credit cards to fund the theater.
“He was very competent and very easy to put your trust in,” King said. “And a lot of people are dealing with this right now because they trusted him. And when he initially did this, we thought it was just a one-time thing. We got him some help, and, you know, he seemed to be on the right track until all of this kind of exploded the last couple of weeks.”
Josh Hitchens, an actor, director and playwright in Philadelphia, expressed shock at Clayton’s disappearance in an interview. He directed Brainspunk’s last production in 2015, and said the company appeared to struggle financially.
Brainspunk wasn’t a major player in the city’s theater scene, he said, but got great press and attracted enthusiastic audiences even though its theater – which the company rented – was located in a neighborhood known for crime.
Hitchens said he hadn’t heard of Clayton’s criminal record before a reporter called him on Monday. He said he lost touch with the couple after Brainspunk closed.
“I really enjoyed both of them as people, as artistic collaborators,” Hitchens said. “They were both extremely kind and really believed in the theater community of Philadelphia and giving younger actors and directors and technical staff a chance and a place to start.”
An affidavit filed in support of the criminal case alleged most of the unauthorized charges involved theater tickets and hotel rooms. Purchases were made with the forged signature of vRide’s CEO.
vRide fired Clayton after the company’s general counsel discovered he had altered the CEO’s expense reports to cover up the purchases, the affidavit says.
Clayton was charged with 26 felonies, including criminal conspiracy, forgery, theft by deception and identity theft. He was also charged with one misdemeanor count of tampering with records. He eventually pleaded guilty to felony theft, forgery and criminal conspiracy to unlawfully take movable property, and the other charges were dropped.
Clayton was sentenced to 200 hours community service, five years of probation and $210,638 in restitution.
The couple left Pennsylvania for Kansas, and Clayton finished his work on an online master’s degree from Fort Hays State University in 2019.
Peabody dogcatcher to interim clerk
Clayton’s disappearance came three and a half weeks after the Peabody Gazette-Bulletin, a sister paper of the Marion County Record, first reported on his Pennsylvania felony convictions.
Clayton, after leaving the Kansas Department of Commerce, was hired by the Peabody police chief as the city’s animal control and health and safety officer at some point. Peabody Mayor Cathy Weems said she does not know exactly when he started working for the city. She later appointed King to fill a vacancy on the City Council and on June 3 promoted Clayton to interim city clerk.
Weems said neither she nor anyone at the city of Peabody ran a background check on Clayton or King and that Peabody did not learn of Clayton’s felonies or King’s arrest until after she had appointed them. Clayton called her the night after he was appointed clerk to tell her, she said.
“He was honest and upfront about it,” Weems said of Clayton. “So we just put measures into place to make sure that I was monitoring his activities here. And I haven’t had a problem with him from our perspective. I mean, he didn’t steal from us or anything like that. There’s no money missing from the city.”
Weems said Clayton did have access to a city credit card, but that no improper purchases have been found. She said she doesn’t think the crimes Clayton pleaded guilty to should disqualify him from working for the city.
“I’m of the perspective that, you know, people deserve an opportunity to show that they can do better and get past some things in life that maybe that they screwed up in before,” Weems said. “But you just don’t take it for granted. You monitor, and we did, and the city is not at risk.”
Still, Commerce’s decision to seek repayment of the grant funding is a potential blow to the city. Rep. Stephen Owens, a Hesston Republican whose district includes Peabody, said the grant was being directed toward revitalizing old buildings on Main Street.
“That’s a tremendous amount of economic development, most likely with local contractors doing local work,” Owens said.
Lowry, the agency spokesman, said that since seeking the repayment, Commerce has given the Peabody Main Street Association until Sept. 4 to file reports and that Commerce staff have been working directly with the group, providing technical assistance.
‘We’re all struggling’
While the fate of Peabody’s downtown revitalization remains in jeopardy, King said he hopes Clayton comes home, gets help and is held responsible for his actions. King said Clayton gave no indication that trouble might be coming or that he was about to disappear.
“I wasn’t even suspicious until the day he went missing,” King said.
King said Clayton’s sudden disappearance has left him in financial ruin.
“My life is collapsing around me because there’s a lot of financial issues that he left behind and things I wasn’t aware of, and so I’m doing my best,” King said. “He left everyone in shambles, including the Main Street board, the city office, and myself. We’re all struggling right now.”
“Our main concern right now is finding him, and if he has committed crimes, making sure that he’s brought to justice,” King said. “As much as we care about him and as much as we love him, we want to see him get some mental health help as well.”
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