Ex-tollway worker admits theft of nearly $35,000

A former Illinois tollway employee admitted Thursday stealing thousands in cash - fines she collected from motorists who were nabbed skirting tolls.

Uganda T. Harris, 33, of Bellwood, pleaded guilty to official misconduct and theft of government property. She faces a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison for the felonies when DuPage Circuit Judge Blanche Hill Fawell sentences her July 27.

Harris was hired as a tollway customer service representative June 19, 2007. The union employee worked out of the Downers Grove headquarters and several oasis locations.

Prosecutor Helen Kapas-Erdman said Harris stole nearly $35,000 while improperly classifying the fines she collected as coming from I-PASS users - who pay for missed tolls and are not subject to large fines - then pocketing the extra cash.

She initially was charged with pocketing about $900 of a $961.50 fine that an Illinois State Police trooper made while posing as a customer Oct. 14 during an undercover sting operation.

Authorities captured the transaction on videotape. They said Harris is seen on the video putting into her purse the marked bills, which later were recovered.

Kapas-Erdman said the rest of the thefts were uncovered in an internal audit of the toll employee's activities between April 1 and Oct. 14, 2008.

The tollway authority began investigating Harris months earlier when staff noticed some anomalies with her service and brought those concerns to their inspector general's office, which kept Harris under surveillance and even collected affidavits from customers about how much they paid, officials said.

Illinois State Police officials were brought in for the sting operation.

Tollway patrons were not shortchanged nor did they owe the tollway authority any money due to the thefts, tollway officials said after Harris' arrest last year.