Former Island Lake mayor, wife charged in payroll scam

Former Island Lake mayor Thomas Hyde and his wife, Sharon, were charged Wednesday in connection with what officials said is a ghost payrolling scam run in the village for more than 10 years.

Sharon Hyde, 58, is accused of collecting more than $100,000 in pay for hours she did not work as director of a village-run preschool. She is charged with theft of government property, official misconduct and making false entries, and she would face a mandatory prison sentence of six to 30 years if convicted.

Thomas Hyde is charged with official misconduct and having a prohibitive interest in contracts for voting as a trustee and mayor to pay his wife. Both are punishable by probation, but he could be sentenced to up to five years in prison.

It is the latest legal scrape involving officials of the town of 7,000 residents that straddles the Lake and McHenry county line. Thomas Hyde already faces charges he illegally altered a liquor license, and former mayor Charles Amrich and former village clerk Christine Becker are facing official misconduct charges of their own.

Investigators estimate that while director of Creative Playtime Preschool at village hall, Sharon Hyde was paid $111,000 she did not earn between January 1999 and the end of 2008, Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Christen Bishop said. Officials are calculating what may have been illegally paid in 2009.

The program began as a baby-sitting service for women attending classes offered by the village parks department in 1996 and transformed into a preschool with Sharon Hyde at the helm in 1999, Bishop said. It operates during the school year and is closed during the summer and school holiday breaks.

Between January 1999 and May 31, 2009, Sharon Hyde put in for time she did not work for the program, and her husband voted to approve those claims, Bishop said.

The Hydes' attorney said Wednesday neither client has done anything wrong.

Charles Smith of Waukegan said Sharon Hyde has been aware she was under investigation for at least 18 months, and village officials have assured him she is a salaried employee.

"She gets the same amount of money each pay period no matter how many hours she works," Smith said. "My client and the village have followed the exact same payroll procedures for the entire time alleged in the charges."

Smith said courts have ruled government officials can vote on pay for a class of individuals that includes their spouses, such as the eight employees of Creative Playtime, without violating the law.

Trustee John Ponio, who lost a bid for mayor to Hyde ally Debbie Herrman but remains on the board, said people have been aware of the criminal investigation and village employees had been interviewed.

"I'm glad the state's attorney is doing something, finally," Ponio said.

Herrmann, who took over as mayor in May, defended Hyde and his wife. She called the charges baseless.

"I don't know where they're coming from," said Herrmann, whose own now-grown children attended Creative Playtime. "I do believe that nobody gives more than Sharon. She's a model citizen."

Calls to Creative Playtime went unanswered. A recording indicated applications for the 2009-10 school year are being accepted.

The village board has gained a reputation in recent years for rough and tumble politics and legal problems. Amrich, who was mayor before Hyde's election, was charged in 2007 with steering village auto maintenance and vehicle gas purchases to a service station he owns. Becker, the former village clerk, is charged with destroying village records after being defeated for re-election in 2005. Both pleaded not guilty and their cases are pending in Lake County circuit court.

The Hydes appeared before Associate Judge Raymond Collins on Wednesday afternoon, and Collins set a $10,000 cash bond for both. Smith said he expected his clients to post the $1,000 necessary for their release.

Collins said Thomas Hyde is due to appear in court July 13, while Sharon Hyde's next court date is July 15.

Jury selection in the liquor license forgery case against Thomas Hyde is scheduled to begin Monday.

• Daily Herald Staff Writer Russell Lissau contributed to this report.

Charged: Jury selection in Hyde's other case begins Monday