Suburban waste agency sues former director

The former director of the Solid Waste Agency of Northern Cook County, who is charged with stealing more than $900,000 from his former employer, is now being sued by the agency in an attempt to recoup those funds.

Agency attorneys filed the federal civil suit against Brooke Beal Tuesday seeking recovery of the missing funds, reimbursement for attorney and investigative fees and unspecified punitive damages.

The lawsuit accuses Beal of fraud and breach of fiduciary duty. Similar to the criminal complaint, the agency’s lawsuit claims Beal doctored emails from board members authorizing “personal development” expenditures beyond the $5,000 cap mandated by the board.

“We have said since day one that SWANCC would take every necessary step to recover funds that were embezzled from the agency, from our member communities and their residents,” said agency Chairman George Van Dusen, who is also mayor of Skokie. “Today’s action represents a significant, affirmative step in that direction.”

SWANCC provides garbage hauling and transferring services for 23 suburbs.

Beal is accused of submitting invoices claiming he was studying at Northwestern University, Harvard University and University of Chicago. Investigators say he did not attend any of those classes, despite telling SWANCC board members otherwise and sometimes gifting board members with knickknacks like coffee mugs from those schools.

Cook County prosecutors charged Beal with an array of crimes in March following several months of investigations by both the agency and the government. Beal pleaded not guilty to the charges, posted 10 percent of a $500,000 bond and was freed. He is required to wear an electronic monitoring device while free on bail, authorities said.

The missing funds were uncovered as part of an annual internal audit in October 2010, agency officials said. Beal was confronted and later resigned from his $160,000-a-year job.

The civil suit wasn’t filed until this week because agency officials didn’t want to impede or complicate the criminal proceedings, SWANCC spokesman Dave Bayless said. Agency officials said now that Cook County prosecutors have turned over all evidence they have to Beal’s legal team, the civil suit won’t get in the way of prosecutors’ efforts.

Attempts to reach Beal’s attorney for comment were unsuccessful.