Another guilty plea in Lincolnshire retirement account theft
The third of four Cook County residents charged with trying to steal $330,000 from a Lincolnshire investment firm was placed on court supervision Wednesday after admitting his role in the scam.
Niven Beluso, 25, was ordered to pay $27,000 in restitution to Hewitt and Associates as part of his negotiated plea in the case.
Assistant State’s Attorney Mary Stanton said Beluso, of Chicago, allowed $100,000 stolen from the Hewitt accounts to be transferred into his personal bank account.
The transfers were made possible because Hewitt employee Cherilyn Thomas, 25, of the 4100 block of Bonhill Drive in Arlington Heights, had stolen information pertaining to the accounts and passed that information to Martin Johnson, authorities said.
Johnson, 34, of Chicago, withdrew money from the accounts and transferred it into the personal accounts of Beluso and Nicarico Liddell, 25, also of Chicago.
Beluso withdrew $27,000 from his account and Liddell got $20,000 from hers, the bulk of which both passed to Johnson, before Lincolnshire police froze all bank accounts they had connected to the scheme.
Officials said a total of $330,000 was withdrawn from the retirement accounts, but not all of that money fell into the hands of those charged, authorities said.
Beluso pleaded guilty to attempted money laundering with the understanding he was maintaining his innocence and only conceding there was enough evidence to convict him.
Liddell pleaded guilty to the same crime Dec. 15 and was placed on probation for two years and ordered to repay $20,000.
Thomas was placed on 30 months probation and ordered to repay $43,798 when she pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft on Oct. 24.
All three agreed to testify against Johnson should he stand trial on the aggravated identity theft charge.
Stanton said Johnson is serving a four-year prison sentence for a theft conviction from Champaign County. She said she will ask prison officials to transfer Johnson to Lake County so the criminal case against him here can be settled.