Defendant given ultimatum on court appearance

A New York man accused of stealing $2.5 million from a Lincolnshire company has one more chance to appear in court before he is rearrested, a Lake County judge said Wednesday.

Ian Gittlitz, 59, is free on $2 million bond and has not been in court for his last six court dates, Assistant State's Attorney Christen Bishop said.

Gittlitz, of Stony Brook, N.Y., is charged with stealing the money while employed as president and chief executive officer of ICD Publications, a publisher of trade magazines.

Bishop said Gittlitz suffered a stroke last fall, and a physician in New York said it was unsafe for Gittlitz to travel in the immediate aftermath of that illness.

However, Bishop said, she has information that Gittlitz has been volunteering at a hospital near his home and has been out of his house to go shopping, have dinner and to see movies.

She asked Circuit Judge Fred Foreman to issue an arrest warrant for Gittlitz on Wednesday to force him to come to court because Gittlitz continues to claim he is not healthy enough to travel.

Foreman said he would delay issuing the warrant until June 28 after Gittlitz's attorney, Ronald Menaker, assured the judge he could get Gittlitz to court on that date.

At the time of his arrest, investigators said, Gittlitz had taken money from the company by filling his own expense reports twice, forging expense claims of others and writing unauthorized checks to himself.

In addition to the criminal charges, Gittlitz is the subject of a civil suit filed by ICD Publications in Cook County Circuit Court.