St. Charles restaurateur guilty of insurance scam

A St. Charles restaurant manager pleaded guilty Thursday to charges he filed a phony insurance claim for $30,000, prosecutors said.

Paul D. Gale, 44, of the 100 block of Golden Hill Street, Carol Stream, pleaded guilty to Class 2 felony insurance fraud in exchange for four weekends in the Kane County jail and two years of probation. Judge T. Jordan Gallagher accepted the plea.

Gale was arrested late last May after reporting a burglary of computer equipment, which either didn't exist or was never actually missing, from a restaurant he was about to open on St. Charles' east side, prosecutors said.

In addition to fraud, he was charged with misusing credit cards from customers at another St. Charles restaurant, the Bar-B-Que Shack, and filing a false police report, both of which were dismissed as a result of his plea Thursday.

Assistant State's Attorney Danielle Bechtold said customers who found frivolous charges on their credit card bills had the charges dismissed, and Gale was ordered to pay about $2,700 in restitution to affected financial institutions.

"No person is out money as far as we know," she said.

Gale, who had no prior criminal history, served 21 days in jail following his arrest. His attorney, Matt Downs, declined to comment.