'Bad bookkeeping' to blame in Dist. 158 theft

Bad bookkeeping -- not theft -- was to blame for an discrepancy in Huntley Unit District 158's payroll about two years ago, authorities said Thursday.

The former payroll employee who was under investigation for the suspected theft of $8,000 to $10,000 will not be charged, the McHenry County state's attorney's office said.

Police began investigating a possible theft after the district reported a discrepancy in its payroll records in 2006.

"There was insufficient evidence to charge anybody with a crime," said Tom Carroll, first assistant state's attorney. "It was just bad bookkeeping."

Carroll added that some of the money was spent at the direction of district officials but was not properly accounted for.

He did not know how much money was unaccounted for but said the case has been closed for some time.

Algonquin police, who conducted the investigation, could not be reached for comment.

District 158 Superintendent John Burkey suggested he didn't necessarily agree with the state's attorney's conclusion but didn't intend to challenge it.

"If we turn something in to police, we obviously feel it was something other than bad bookkeeping," Burkey said, but added, "I'm not going to question that decision."

District 158 board members said Thursday they hadn't heard the case was closed and questioned whether police and the state's attorney's office devoted the proper resources to the investigation.

"That's not going to sit very well with most of us," board Vice President Tony Quagliano said. "We'll probably take it upon ourselves to put (evidence) together and give it back to them."

Quagliano said his conversations with district officials left him with the impression there was unequivocal evidence of theft in payroll -- although he said he hadn't seen the evidence himself.

"I thought for sure there was one transaction … that would have merited (a charge of theft)," Quagliano said. "This person was obviously doing something there with that transaction that wasn't cool."

Quagliano said he plans to take up the issue with his board colleagues and will try to review the state's attorney's evidence to figure out why there won't be charges.

The suspected theft was one of several discrepancies that prompted the district to launch a forensic audit of its payroll office in 2006.