Cops: Elgin man stole thousands from disabled neighbor

Police say an Elgin man wrote thousands of dollars in checks to himself from the account of an elderly, disabled neighbor.

Ronald T. Polk, 47, of the 600 block of Chelsea Court, was charged Monday with two counts of financial exploitation of the elderly/disabled and 11 counts of forgery. Bail was set at $50,000.

In all, Polk bilked his 63-year-old neighbor, who is in a wheelchair, out of $3,250 between Sept. 8 and Oct. 20, Elgin Deputy Police Chief Jeff Swoboda said. The checks were cashed on 11 separate occasions in amounts ranging from $200 to $450.

Swoboda said Polk had been "helping out" and acting as a caretaker for his neighbor when police were notified of the allegations Oct. 27. He was arrested in a traffic stop Monday at Annandale Drive and Bowes Road in Elgin and remained in custody Tuesday afternoon.

Polk, formerly of Hoffman Estates, could be sentenced to between two and five years in prison or probation if convicted of the most serious charge.

In 1998, he was sentenced to three years in prison after a burglary conviction, Kane County court records show. Unrelated charges surrounding a 2007 burglary in West Dundee also are pending against him; Polk's attorney in that case could not immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.