Naperville woman admits to theft

A Naperville woman faces prison time after pleading guilty to charges she stole nearly $20,000 from a Sugar Grove manufacturing firm in 2005.

Carrie A. Sej, 35, of 95 Testa Drive, Apt. 204, entered a "blind plea" of guilty to felony theft this week, just before a jury trial was to begin, records show.

With the blind plea, there is no prior agreement on a sentence; a judge will determine that Dec. 28.

The felony theft charge carries a three- to seven-year prison term.

Sej was arrested in early 2006 on charges she transferred $19,921 from Falex Corp. into her personal account.

Sugar Grove police Investigator John Sizer said Sej worked in the accounting department at the firm, which sells test equipment for oils, greases and other lubricants.

Sizer said between June 17 and Dec. 6, 2005, Sej on 14 occasions took money Falex was to refund to customers and deposited it into her personal debit card account.

The discrepancies were found by an accountant hired by Falex to consolidate its billing operations, Sizer said.

At the time, Sej was on probation for a similar offense.

According to DuPage County court records, Sej pleaded guilty to felony theft by deception of more than $10,000 in June 2005 and was sentenced to probation.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped two other theft charges.

West Chicago Deputy Police Chief Laz Perez said Sej was working for a lawn care services company and deposited refunds into her account instead of giving them to customers.

Sej was arrested by Aurora police in October 2003 on misdemeanor theft charges, which were dropped in 2004.