Prison or probation for woman who stole $232K from North Aurora Dart Corp.?
Should a Florida woman be sent to prison for stealing more than $100,000 from her former North Aurora employer over a three-year span?
Or should Kathleen A. Kibler, 58, of Port St. Lucie, Florida, who has never before been arrested, be sentenced to probation so she is able to repay some of the $232,000 that Kane County prosecutors argue was pilfered from the Dart Container Corp.?
Judge John Barsanti heard arguments from attorneys on Tuesday and will render his decision, along with the amount Kibler must pay in restitution, on May 9.
Kibler faces up to 15 years in prison for felony theft over $100,000 from Dart, where she worked as an operations manager from 1999 through 2015.
Kibler was charged in late 2016, pleaded guilty in January 2018, and over the past couple months, attorneys have argued over exactly how much she stole and how much she should repay.
Barsanti said case law changed in the mid-1980s and courts must now consider the defendant's ability to pay restitution.
"We set restitution amounts on defendants that they are almost always unable to pay," Barsanti said. "I'm just trying to bring a little bit of reality to the statute here. I've taken nothing off the table at this particular point in time."
According to prosecutors, Kibler used her company-issued credit card 590 times to rack up $111,014.59 in unauthorized purchases as Menard's, Home Depot, and other stores for personal items, pet supplies and a riding lawn mower. Kibler also wrote $111,236.55 in checks from the company account, including $86,361.55 to a contractor for construction on her home and also wrote checks to herself and son-in-law.
Assistant State's Attorney Sara Seberger argued prison was needed to deter others and to show that Kane County takes white collar crime seriously.
"She stole over $200,000 from her employer and she didn't just do it all at once," Seberger said. "Deterrence is about telling Kane County that if you steal from your employer, you won't just get a slap on the wrist."
Assistant Public Defender Lauren Savastio argued her client did not have any previous criminal arrests, has attended every court date and has worked the entire time while free on bond.
Savastio disputed the $232,000 figure cited by prosecutors, arguing that Kibler paid $3,000 to a debt collector as a settlement on the $111,000 allegedly charged on the credit card.
"This was not a violent crime. There was no physical injury whatsoever," Savastio said.
Kibler remains free on bond and under state law, can have any jail or prison sentence cut in half for good behavior.