Former Geneva employee facing theft charges offered plea deal

Kane County prosecutors have made a plea agreement offer to Steve LeMaire, the former Geneva streets superintendent accused of stealing $24,000 from the city.

LeMaire, of the 400 block of Banbury Avenue, Elburn, worked for the city for 33 years before he was fired and arrested in February.

The 55-year-old is charged with felony theft, online theft by deception and official misconduct, according to court records.

Assistant State’s Attorney Christine Wascher said she made an offer to LeMaire’s defense attorney, which is routine for criminal cases.

Wascher said she could not elaborate on the specifics of the offer, but said there was no hard deadline for LeMaire to accept or reject it.

“I’m waiting for (LeMaire and his attorney) to tell me what they want to do,” Wascher said.

LeMaire is due in court again May 24.

Defense attorney John Carbon did not immediately return a phone message Friday.

If a plea agreement is reached, it likely will include restitution. The most serious charge LeMaire faces carries a top prison term of 15 years, but probation also is an option.

If a deal is reached, probation is likely because LeMaire does not have a prior criminal record. One other question that remains is whether a plea agreement would have him admitting guilt to a felony or misdemeanor.

A felony conviction will make LeMaire ineligible to collect his pension from working in Geneva’s Public Works Department.

Geneva police have said the suspected misuse of funds was discovered Jan. 11, 2012, when the public works director was reviewing a monthly credit card statement and noticed purchases by LeMaire that “seemed suspicious.”

The city then looked past purchases, “revealing many other purchases made by Mr. LeMaire, which also seemed to be of a suspicious nature” and some that went back as far as 2004, according to a statement from the city.