Ex-secretary guilty of Dundee-Crown theft

A former secretary who stole from a student activity fund at Dundee-Crown High School pleaded guilty Friday and was ordered to pay $75,000 in restitution.

Lisa Burkhart, 47, of the 500 block of Barrington Avenue, East Dundee, also must complete four years of probation and 150 hours of community service, Kane County Judge Allen M. Anderson said. If she does not keep up with the terms, she could be sent to jail for another 180 days.

Burkhart admitted in a negotiated plea Friday to pilfering about $75,000 to pay her own bills over a period of more than four years, beginning in February 2002. Assistant State's Attorney Dan Carter said the money was stolen from a fund earmarked for cheerleading, basketball, football and other activities at Dundee-Crown, where Burkhart had been a secretary.

Anderson said Burkhart must pay at least $600 a month in restitution starting on May 30, and must return to court every four months to show she is working and that her monthly payments, which could be increased, remain at an appropriate level. The arrangement, he said, was worked out with input from Community Unit District 300.

"Taxpayers should not have suffered this loss," Anderson said. "It is a cost to the taxpayers one way or another."

Burkhart, who had no prior criminal history, spent 34 days in the county jail after her arrest last spring and has been on electronic home monitoring ever since. She ignored a request for comment as she left the courtroom Friday with her head down.