Village mayor's aide sentenced on tax charges

EAST ST. LOUIS -- A former assistant to the mayor of a southwestern Illinois village has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for evading income taxes and misapplying village property.

Fifty-four-year-old Linda Connor of Belleville also was ordered Friday to repay Washington Park nearly $370,000 and to pay the Internal Revenue Service $60,000.

In pleading guilty in May in federal court in East St. Louis, Connor admitted that she embezzled and intentionally misapplied property. The loss happened while she was Mayor John Thornton's aide from April 2005 through 2007, and it caused employees' pension funds to be underfunded.

Connor's pilfering contributed to the village's decision to file for bankruptcy protection this summer.