Former state worker: 'I'm playing hooky ... Shhhhh'

The top ethics officer in the Illinois treasurer's office is taking to task three former employees, including one who sent photos of himself at Wrigley Field and lying on a couch during work hours.

One of the former employees says the photos were a joke, though.

The report says the three top staff members helped each other falsify the times when they were actually working.

The investigation started when former director of Invest Illinois Ashvin Lad sent co-workers a cellphone photo of himself at Wrigley Field on a workday in May with the caption: "I'm playing Hooky ... SHHHHH."

A co-worker reported it and said Lad sent another photo a day later on a couch with the caption "SHHHH - taking a nap."

Lad said in his response in the report that the Wrigley photo was taken over his lunch hour. "Anyone who follows any of my social media platforms will attest to the fact that my posts are in a humorous tone. There was no intent of actually playing hooky," he wrote.

He also said the couch photo doesn't prove he was napping. "Again, it was sent as a joke," he wrote. "And frankly, the couch is too small to nap in and it was during the lunch hour."

Treasurer Dan Rutherford fired Lad, former logistics manager Pat Carlson and former director of community affairs George Daglas. Carlson and Daglas both objected to the investigation in written responses.

"Your investigation found that multiple, high-level employees in positions of supervisory authority and trust conspired to avoid the systems in place and defraud the state of Illinois," Rutherford wrote in response to the report. "To say the least, their behavior leaves me appalled and disappointed."