I took files to expose crimes, says McHenry Co. official's ex-secretary

When Amy Dalby copied files from her computer at the McHenry County state's attorney's office in 2006, she says, she was looking to protect herself should anyone later claim she was part of a crime.

Dalby will appear today before a McHenry County judge, facing allegations that copying the files was the crime.

Now Dalby is speaking publicly for the first time about her work for State's Attorney Louis Bianchi, a 16-month special prosecutor investigation sparked by her actions, and how steps she says she took to expose possible wrongdoing have instead left her facing seven criminal charges that jeopardize her freedom and her plans to become a teacher.

"I never thought I did anything wrong," Dalby said. "Six felonies and a misdemeanor ... I didn't see that coming."

In a 90-minute interview, the 24-year-old Northern Illinois University student went on record saying she performed campaign-related work at Bianchi's request while she was being paid by the county and using county resources.

She confirmed documents shown to the Daily Herald were copies of the political work she performed while being paid by the county.

She refuted claims she had political motives when she discussed her work with a former co-worker who later supported Daniel Regna, Bianchi's opponent in a bitter 2008 Republican primary.

And she expressed fear, but not regret, over the consequences she is now facing for her actions.

Those consequences - multiple felony charges of official misconduct, computer fraud and computer tampering - allege Dalby stole computer files from the office in June or July 2006.

In a written statement Tuesday, Bianchi declined to discuss Dalby's specific allegations, saying it would be inappropriate to comment on the remarks of someone charged by a special prosecutor.

But he noted that according to the special prosecutor, she never took her allegations to law enforcement but rather to someone to be used for political purposes.

"In all, hundreds of files of sensitive material were illegally removed from the state's attorney's office, according to the special prosecutor," Bianchi said.

Special Prosecutor David O'Connor declined to comment Tuesday.

"For the protection of all involved, I'll let the evidence speak for itself," he said.

O'Connor earlier this month said Dalby removed hundreds of files, some requiring "extraordinary confidentiality." He did not elaborate on their content.

But according to Dalby, some prove she performed campaign-related tasks for Bianchi while working as his personal secretary between January 2005 and the summer of 2006, and that's why she took them.

Among the more than two dozen documents she confirmed as her work were:

• An invitation for Andy McKenna, chairman of the Illinois Republican Party, to attend Bianchi's 2005 "Festa Italiano" fundraiser at Turnberry Country Club in Crystal Lake.

• A program for the 2005 fundraiser.

• A "thank you" note to a sponsor of the McHenry County GOP's fundraising golf outing in 2005.

• Communications with McHenry County Republican headquarters.

• Letters of support for McHenry County Board hopefuls.

• Regrets for being unable to attend fundraising events for State Rep. Mark Beaubien and DuPage County State's Attorney Joseph Birkett.

The campaign-related work didn't end there, Dalby said. She said she was sent to set up tables and banners for a Bianchi fundraiser in the middle of a work day.

Her claims largely mirror those made last month by Regna in a petition seeking a special prosecutor to investigate Bianchi's office. The request is scheduled to go before a judge next week.

Innocent beginnings

Dalby was a student at McHenry County College when she began working as Bianchi's personal secretary soon after he took office in December 2004. At first she had no qualms with any assignments he gave her, even when it included cutting out newspaper articles mentioning acquaintances of her boss, typing campaign checks, preparing letters to political supporters or buying flowers, she said.

That changed when she discussed her work in early 2005 with Kristen Foley, an assistant state's attorney who was a carry-over from the administration of previous state's attorney Gary Pack.

Dalby said Foley told her the work amounted to illegal politicking in a taxpayer-funded office.

"It seems clear to me that (Dalby) was unaware that what she was doing was illegal until a lawyer in the state's attorney's office told her it was wrong," said Dalby's attorney, Wesley Pribla.

Since O'Connor confirmed the grand jury proceedings last month, speculation from Foley's attorney and others has been that Foley is one of its targets. Now an attorney for the city of Naperville, Foley left the state's attorney's office in 2005 and two years later filed an unsuccessful ethics complaint against Bianchi. She also supported Regna's campaign to unseat Bianchi.

Foley's attorney, Mark Gummerson, declined to comment on Dalby's account, but said his client did not violate any laws.

According to Dalby, Foley encouraged her to save her work should it ever become an issue. She took that advice, ultimately deciding to copy the political documents - and hundreds of others she had created as Bianchi's secretary - on a portable computer storage drive before she left the office to attend classes full-time at NIU.

Although most of those documents were legitimate, Dalby said, she copied everything, fearing that if she took the time to separate the political from the nonpolitical someone in the office would catch her.

"I thought there was something wrong happening and I wanted to make sure that if it ever came back on me that I did something wrong, I could protect myself," she said.

Dalby and Foley met again in October 2007 to discuss the files, where Foley encouraged her to take her story public and file a complaint with the Illinois Attorney General.

Dalby said she instead provided Foley with the documents, expecting Foley would take the matter from there.

"I didn't know how to take it to the Attorney General," she said. "I took it to Kristen instead. After that I meeting, I figured she had what she needed."

And, Dalby hoped, it would allow her to put her work in the state's attorney's office behind her for good.

An unexpected visit

A knock on her door about a month later dashed those hopes. Two plainclothed state police investigators told her they were there to question her about an investigation of the state's attorney's office.

"I asked if I was going to get into trouble, and they said I might be," she said. "After that, I talked with them. I didn't have anything to hide."

Dalby, who never obtained an attorney until late last month, said the interview lasted about two hours.

The investigators said they knew she had copied computer files.

They knew about the portable storage drive. They detailed several criminal charges she could face for her actions.

What they didn't seem to care about, Dalby said, was what the files contained.

"The illegality of what I took was not being investigated, just how I took it," she said.

It's an attitude that, she and her lawyer say, continues today, even as state police and the special prosecutor know exactly what some of the files contain.

"I find it to be troubling," Pribla said. "They've been trying to avoid any inquiry into allegations of misconduct by Lou Bianchi. They're slaying the messenger, not dealing with the message."

After speaking with investigators several times in the months after the initial interview, Dalby said, she did not hear from them at all for about eight months between the 2008 primary and general election.

When she tried to reach state police to ask if the probe was ongoing, investigators did not return her calls.

That changed early this year, she said. State police approached Dalby again, asking her to give a videotaped statement about her actions. Investigators told her they could not make any promises about the outcome of the case, but said she "would be OK" so long as she cooperated, Dalby said.

"I intended to continue to cooperate, thinking I'd be OK," she said.

Like previous inquiries, Dalby said, O'Connor's questions for the video camera focused only on the actions of herself and Foley. The prosecutor never asked why she took the files or what they contained.

"They made me feel like what I did (for Bianchi) wasn't illegal," she said. "Even after seeing everything that was taken, they still didn't care."

Although O'Connor has said the documents were turned over for use in a political campaign, Dalby said she had no interest in the election. She said she has neither seen nor spoken with Regna in more than four years.

"I was going to school, majoring in chemistry. I wasn't going to go back to the state's attorney's office no matter who won."

After giving her videotaped statement in January, Dalby believed she was in the clear. She cooperated as best she could, she said. She would be OK.

She was wrong.

You've been indicted

The call came March 5 from one of the state police investigators whom she'd spoken to 17 months earlier.

"You've been indicted," he said.

Seven counts. Six of them felonies. Maximum punishment, five years in prison. Teaching career? Maybe not with a felony conviction.

She plans to plead not guilty this morning and ask for a trial. She still believes she did nothing wrong and admits to a measure of pride in standing up to possible wrongdoing.

But she agreed, when her lawyer suggested she would have been much better off had she gone to work in a bank instead of a state's attorney's office.

"I just hope everything works out and that we can all move on," she said. "And that my future isn't ruined by a felony."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Related documents</h2> <ul class="morePdf"> <li><a href="/pdf/bianchi0309.pdf">Statement from McHenry Co. State's Attorney Louis Bianchi</a></li> <li><a href="/pdf/dalby07.pdf">Full text of Amy Dalby indictment</a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=279878">Official's ex-secretary details defense <span class="date">[03/18/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=277522">Bianchi ends silence on probe <span class="date">[03/07/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=277364">Bianchi secretary stole files as part of scheme, indictment claims <span class="date">[03/06/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=277057">McHenry County state's attorney's ex-secretary indicted <span class="date">[03/05/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=276328">Special prosecutor on hold after Bianchi rival seeks new judge <span class="date">[03/03/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=275804">McHenry Co. State's Attorney wants say in rival's request <span class="date">[02/28/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=274231">Ex-rival: McHenry Co. state's attorney used staff for political work <span class="date">[02/23/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>