Secretary of State employee caught in FBI sting
A 22-year employee of the secretary of state's driver's license division has been charged with selling what he thought was the personal information of customers to an identity thief.
But officials said Charles DiPrima, 58, was actually dealing false identity information to an undercover agent of the FBI.
Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Stephen Scheller said DiPrima, of the 500 block of Quail Circle in Grayslake, was working in the Libertyville SOS facility in 2007.
On Aug. 2, Aug. 14 and Sept. 20 of that year, Scheller said, DiPrima agreed to provide personal identity information from files in the office to a man in exchange for store gift cards and tickets to Chicago Cubs games.
In reality, Scheller said, DiPrima was providing information that had been created by federal officials for the expressed purposes of corruption investigations and did not affect any real customers of the license facility.
In addition, Scheller said, DiPrima was dealing with an undercover FBI informant who was wearing a concealed recording device during all of his interactions with DiPrima.
Federal officials only recently informed local authorities of the evidence against DiPrima, Scheller said, and they moved swiftly to charge him.
David Drucker, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jesse White, said DiPrima has been most recently working at a $49,332-per-year job at the SOS facility in Woodstock.
DiPrima was suspended without pay as soon as the allegations became known, Drucker said, and the agency is moving to terminate his employment.
“We take these types of activities very seriously,” Drucker said. “We intend for Mr. DiPrima to lose his job and we will prosecute him to the fullest extent of the law.”
Scheller said DiPrima is charged with conspiracy to commit identity theft and is eligible for up to three years in prison if convicted.
DiPrima appeared before Associate Judge Raymond Collins on Wednesday and was released on a signature bond after being told to report back to court on Dec. 28.