Ex-Woodridge cop who fled charges to be fitted with GPS
After he was indicted on theft charges, former Woodridge Police Officer Scott Webb told a family member to sell off his belongings. Then he fled to Branson, Mo., where he lived under another name, prosecutors said Wednesday.
At his first DuPage County court appearance since his Oct. 18 arrest, Webb was ordered to wear a GPS device that will track his whereabouts if he bonds out of jail.
The 39-year-old Romeoville man faces two counts of theft over $10,000. The 10-year veteran is accused of pocketing funds raised at two charity events for an organization that helps families of fallen police officers.
Prosecutor Helen Kapas said Webb came under investigation after he failed to turn over earnings from two fundraisers he organized to the Illinois Concerns of Police Survivors, a nonprofit group.
She said an investigation showed Webb deposited thousands of dollars into his personal banking account “right after” two pub crawls he set up through his police union in 2009 and 2010.
“In total, over $30,000 was taken between the two charity events,” Kapas told Judge Michael Wolfe in bond court.
Webb, who resigned from the force in March, was aware of the investigation and had agreed to surrender May 24 after a warrant was issued for his arrest. “In return for that courtesy,” Kapas said, “the defendant never surrendered”
Records showed Webb withdrew $16,500 from his bank account May 24. He also met with a sister, said goodbye, and gave her $2,000 and the keys to his home, according to prosecutors. Kapas said he told the sister to sell his home and belongings and keep the proceeds.
Local and federal authorities, including U.S. Marshals, spent about five months searching for Webb.
Branson Police Chief Kent Cutcher said the defendant was apprehended about 7 p.m. Oct 18 after a tip from someone who “knew Webb and knew where he was.”
“He basically complied with everything,” Cutcher said. “He didn’t resist.”
Kapas said Webb had been living in an apartment, where police found $4,500 in bundles of cash, $1,500 in money orders and a loaded 9 mm handgun. He also had affixed Washington D.C. license plates to his truck and signed a lease under the name Jeff Waits, Kapas said.
“He made statements to individuals that he would shoot himself if police came looking for him,” Kapas said.
Judge Wolfe ordered the defendant fitted with an electronic monitoring device should he bond out of jail, and admonished him that he could be tried and sentenced even without his presence in court.
Webb pleaded not guilty at a later hearing Wednesday. He is being held without bond until a hearing next month when prosecutors said they will seek a bail greater than $250,000 because they consider Webb a flight risk.
Defense attorney Jack Donahue said his client is presumed innocent, but declined further comment.
If convicted, prosecutor said, Webb could receive probation or three to seven years in prison.