Former toll worker sentenced for embezzling

Although she tried to paint herself as a Robin Hood of sorts, a former Illinois tollway employee will spend the next year in a work-release program for embezzling thousands of dollars from the state agency.

Uganda T. Harris will report to the DuPage County jail Nov. 30 to begin serving a 12-month sentence that only allows her out to work 40 hours a week. The 34-year-old Bellwood woman will also serve four years probation and has to repay the tollway more than $36,000 she is accused of stealing, plus another $1,000 for her insurance coverage.

Harris pleaded guilty in June to stealing the money from the tollway authority where she had worked as a customer service representative since June 2007.

Her scheme was uncovered during an audit. She was accused of stealing the money by improperly classifying the fines she collected as coming from I-PASS users - who pay for missed tolls, but not the fines that are 70 times the amount of the missed toll - then pocketing the extra cash. Illinois State Police conducted a sting, catching her with $1,100 in 20-dollar bills they used to pay a phony fine.

Harris claimed that she rarely pocketed cash, but instead used the scam to clear the fines for people she felt bad for. Her attorney, Vincent Cornelius, said her take during the time she operated the scam from May 2008 to October 2008 was only "a fraction" of the money the tollway claims they lost.

However, Assistant DuPage County State's Attorney Helen Kapas-Erdman said there's no evidence Harris operated altruistically. In fact, state police officials testified Monday that when she was arrested, Harris had another $167 she admitted she stole the same day she pocketed the $1,100 from the sting.

"The evidence shows she served only herself," Kapas-Erdman said. "She is a liar, a thief and a con."

Tollway officials began investigating Harris months before her arrest. The inspector general's office put Harris under surveillance and collected affidavits from customers about how much they paid.

Tollway patrons were not shortchanged nor do they owe any money, officials said. Harris forfeited $6,750 of her bond and presented a $5,000 cashier's check Monday to help pay off a portion of her debt.