McHenry County to pay another $5,000 to Dalby special prosecutor

The prosecution of a former McHenry County State's Attorney secretary for removing computer files from the office ended months ago, but county taxpayers are still shelling out thousands of dollars for it.

A county judge this week approved another $5,062 in legal fee payments to David O'Connor, the Orland Park attorney who served as special prosecutor in the case of Amy Dalby.

Those fees are on top of $59,093 O'Connor received in September for his work in the case, which began with his November 2007 appointment to investigate allegations Dalby copied and removed thousands of computer files while serving as State's Attorney Louis Bianchi's personal secretary in 2005.

Dalby, of Woodstock, ultimately pleaded guilty in May to a misdemeanor computer tampering charge, was fined $400 and was placed on court supervision for 12 months.

Most of the new fees - about $2,961 - covered O'Connor's costs to respond to a petition asking for him to be found in contempt of court filed by Dalby's lawyer.

The petition, claiming O'Connor inappropriately released grand jury transcripts from the case, was thrown out a week later. But not before O'Connor says he spent about 10 hours preparing his response and defending himself in court.

O'Connor, according to court records, also billed the county about $1,450 for his work involving efforts by others involved in the Dalby investigation to have access to some of his files.

A second special prosecutor - former Lake County Chief Judge Henry Tonigan III - is now at work investigating Dalby's allegations she was instructed by Bianchi to perform political work while on county time. Bianchi has denied those accusations.