Ex-tollway worker admits stealing tolls at DuPage plaza

A former tollbooth worker pleaded guilty Monday to pocketing more than $800 while stationed at an I-355 plaza near Bloomingdale.

Cheryl Olds, 51, formerly of Woodridge, was sentenced to a year of probation and 50 hours of community service for official misconduct.

Olds was arrested last fall after she was caught on video stuffing money from her cash register into her purse and pockets, prosecutors said.

An audit showed she also used an “emergency vehicle” button in her tollbooth to allow hundreds of drivers to pass for free.

“The audit showed over 850 times,” DuPage County Prosecutor Helen Kapas told Judge Kathryn Creswell in court.

Kapas said Olds had worked for the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority since May 1996 and had risen to the rank of senior toll collector. Her salary working at the I-355 and Army Trail Road plaza was $52,000. Kapas said the thefts started in 2009, and Olds used her final paycheck to pay back $874.

Had she been convicted at trial, Olds could have been sentenced to up to five years in prison.