Ex-Woodridge cop charged in charity theft

An arrest warrant has been issued for a former Woodridge patrol officer accused of stealing more than $30,000 from fundraisers benefiting the families of police officers killed in the line of duty.

Scott A. Webb, a 10-year veteran of the Woodridge force, was indicted by a DuPage County grand jury on two counts of felony theft, authorities said Wednesday. He was being sought on a $250,000-bail arrest warrant.

Authorities said Webb, 39, took more than $30,000 in cash donations from “Crawlin’ for the Fallen” pub-crawl fundraisers, put on each year by the Woodridge police union for the nonprofit Concerns of Police Survivors.

Webb, of Romeoville, is accused of taking funds from consecutive pub-crawls in 2009 and 2010, though authorities said he had been involved in their planning since 2004.

Woodridge police spokeswoman Kate Croteau said Webb resigned in March after 10 years as a patrol officer. She declined to comment on the charges or the reason for his departure, and neither Webb nor an attorney representing him could immediately be reached for comment.

“It’s a very sad day for us,” said Mariah Hughes, the nonprofit group’s chief executive officer. “It’s a very unfortunate situation, and we hate to see anything like this happen. It’s such a rare instance.”

Craig Figgins, president of the organization’s Illinois chapter, said the “Crawlin’ for the Fallen” event was not spearheaded by the charity group itself, but by the Woodridge Police Association. He said funds generated at the events go into the charity’s general fund, which helps send families of fallen officers on five-day trips to Washington D.C., where their loved ones are honored.

“We rely on public fundraisers, and that’s how we take care of our families in Illinois. It allows them to start to heal and cope with the death of an officer,” said Figgins, whose brother Dan died in 2005 while on the job as a St. Charles police sergeant.

Figgins said the annual pub crawls tend to generate a “sizable amount” of donations, and “a lot of good has come from them.” To date, the Woodridge union has donated $47,000 to Illinois Concerns of Police Survivors, according to the charity’s website.

If convicted of stealing more than $10,000, Webb could be sentenced to probation or three to seven years in prison, authorities said.