Weekends in jail didn’t fit the crime

You may have read about a pretty little lady named Tami Brown who embezzled nearly a million dollars from the firm at which I work, Engineering Systems Inc. (People of the State of Illinois v. Tami Brown, Case 2009CF002092). And you may have read that the higher-ups at my firm were satisfied with the “punishment” that was meted out by DuPage State’s Attorney Bob Berlin’s office.

Please note that the term punishment appears with quotation marks to denote its use in the figurative sense. On June 27, after nearly two years and 20 status continuances, Ms. Brown received 6 months of work release, and she was required to pay $400,000 in recompense.

I think it’s safe to assume that Ms. Brown paid her bail and legal bills with money she embezzled, she banked the remainder, and now she is subjected to the draconian punishment of 26 weekend nights spent in a cozy jail cell. I’ll take that deal all day long.

There’s a lot of “tough on crime” rhetoric in DuPage County. Getting sold out by our elected officials is getting old. Voters need to remember this on election day.

Steven J. Smith

Naperville