Indictment against ex-Island lake mayor dismissed

A Lake County judge on Thursday dismissed charges against former Island Lake Mayor Thomas Hyde in connection with the ghost payrolling scheme his wife is accused of running.

Circuit Judge Fred Foreman ruled that prosecutors had not alleged a sufficient link between Thomas Hyde's financial interests and his wife's for the charges to stand.

Sharon Hyde was indicted last June and charged with collecting more than $100,000 in pay for hours she did not work as director of a village-operated preschool. The charges against her remain, and despite them, she continues to head up Creative Playtime.

Thomas Hyde was charged with official misconduct and having a prohibitive interest in the payments because he voted to approve them while serving as a village official and because officials said he shared in the benefit his wife received by collecting the money illegally.

Thomas Hyde's defense team of Charles Smith and Brian Smith of Waukegan moved to dismiss the indictment, saying that nothing Thomas Hyde did in relation to his wife's employment was illegal.

Foreman agreed, saying prosecutors had not shown that money paid to Sharon Hyde automatically went to benefit Thomas Hyde.

"Each count of the indictment in this case charges the defendant with having a financial interest in his wife's employment with the village based upon the allegation that Sharon Hyde is the defendant's spouse and one with whom he shared financial obligations and assets," Foreman's five-page written opinion reads in part.

"However, the court cannot find that the general allegation of shared financial obligations and assets suffices as an allegation that the defendant's wife employment was a subterfuge for self-dealing bordering on fraud."

Several Island Lake trustees celebrated Foreman's decision Thursday.

"I think that justice has been served," said Trustee Donna O'Malley, one of the officials who publicly supported the Hydes after their arrests last summer.

"Everybody wants to be a judge - but it's not up to us to be a judge or jury."

Trustee Don Verciglio criticized the state's attorney's office for bringing criminal charges against Hyde if the evidence wasn't there.

"They never should have prosecuted him in the first place," Verciglio said.

Trustee Laurie Rabattini, long a critic of Hyde and current Mayor Debbie Herrmann, declined to comment on Foreman's decision. Trustee John Ponio, another Herrmann foe, said he "wouldn't expect anything else" other than the charges to be dropped and expressed displeasure with the government and the legal system.

Assistant State's Attorney Christen Bishop said Foreman gave her 30 days in which to decide if she wishes to file a motion for him to reconsider his ruling or an appeal of the decision, or if she will re-indict the case with different allegations.

Charles Smith said Thursday he thought Foreman's ruling benefited both sides of the case.

"We are obviously pleased with the judge's decision," Charles Smith said. "However, we share the state's concerns with these possible conflict of interest situations in which the legislature has given us little guidance.

"Perhaps this ruling will lead to a broader discussion of these issues and how they are to be resolved."

Foreman rejected a motion to dismiss the charges against Sharon Hyde earlier this year. Authorities say she collected $114,000 in pay for hours she did not work between 1999 and 2009. She is scheduled to go on trial beginning July 26 and faces a mandatory prison sentence of between six and 30 years if convicted.

Thomas Hyde, the Island Lake mayor from 2005 to 2009, still faces misdemeanor charges of battery and attempted unlawful communication with a witness in connection with an incident at a party in December 2009. Those charges carry a maximum penalty of one year in jail and a $2,500 fine.

Thomas Hyde was found not guilty of forgery and official misconduct in another criminal matter last summer. Hyde had been charged with changing the name of the owner of 3D Bowl/Sideouts on a liquor license in 2008 after a plan to sell the establishment stalled.