Former Lake Co. health official pleads guilty to theft

One of two former county health department officials charged with collecting pay for hours they did not work pleaded guilty Tuesday in Lake County Circuit Court.

Thomas Job, 66, will face up to seven years in prison when he is sentenced for theft of government property. He will also be eligible for probation.

Job and Richard Morelli, 60, were charged in January 2010 in a scheme prosecutors contend allowed them to be paid for time they were not on the job.

Job, the rehabilitation coordinator for the department who was hired in 1990, and Morelli, an employee since 1991 who served as detoxification coordinator, are no longer employed by the county.

Assistant State’s Attorney Matthew Demartini said the men devised a way to circumvent the time-keeping function of the access cards employees use to enter and leave the department’s office on Grand Avenue in Waukegan.

The method allowed Job, of Spring Grove, to collect $39,875 for time he did not work, Demartini said, while Morelli, of Highland Park, was overpaid by $46,619.

Both were originally charged with theft of government property, official misconduct and computer fraud and both posted $5,000 in cash for bond.

Demartini agreed to drop the official misconduct and computer fraud charges against Job in exchange for his guilty plea.

Associate Judge George Bridges ordered Job to return to court March 21 for the scheduling of a sentencing date.

Morelli has pleaded not guilty to all the charges against him and is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 17.