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Elgin woman gets 5 years for $483,000 theft

Cheryl Quinn used her former employer's bank account information 82 times between August 2008 and June 2012 to pay for extravagant purchases on her personal credit card, DuPage County prosecutors said.

During that time, they said, she stole $483,230 from the company.

Quinn, 44, of 208 Brookside Drive in Elgin, was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison and ordered to pay back the money to Addison-based Datalizer Slide Charts.

During the sentencing hearing, Assistant State's Attorney Diane Michalak said Quinn was fired from the company in 2006 for poor attendance and a series of small thefts never reported to police.

“She waited two years and then began stealing from (Datalizer) again,” Michalak said. “This went on 82 times for individual purchases as much as $10,000. Purchases were made for jewelry ... massages, her maid, LA Fitness, Ticketmaster, trips to (Las) Vegas, Indiana and Texas, and shopping at Nordstrom and Victoria's Secret.”

Addison Detective Kevin Kuechler said Quinn admitted to finding an old pay stub and using the company's financial information to make direct, electronic payments to her personal credit card.

Quinn's attorney, DJ Tegeler, said Quinn fell on hard times and was struggling with alcoholism when she saw the idea to use the company's financial information on a television show.

“Once you start and get away with it, it's very easy to continue. She was in a continuous pattern that she had to break,” Tegeler said. “She felt very relived when it was all over.”

Michalak, however, said Quinn could have stopped at any of the 82 times she used the information.

“(Quinn) told (the probation department) she was disgusted with herself but she was not disgusted enough to stop before she got caught,” Michalak said. “This is greed, not alcoholism.”

Quinn told Judge Kathryn Creswell she is “very sorry for (her) behavior.”

Creswell, however, said she believed Quinn battles an addiction in addition to her battle with alcohol.

“It's staggering what she spent the money on,” Creswell said when imposing her sentence. “She has an addiction to spending money she didn't have. It was a method of living far beyond her means.”

As for the restitution, both sides agreed Quinn would never be able to repay the money during her lifetime, but she will have to try.

Reached by phone, Datalizer CEO John Robertson declined to comment on Quinn's sentencing or the restitution.

With good behavior, Quinn will serve half of the sentence followed by two years of parole.

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