West Dundee man pleads guilty to bilking clients
A West Dundee man and former Elgin attorney pleaded guilty Wednesday to bilking two clients out of more than $130,000.
William Chesbrough, 59, of the 1400 block of Grand Point Boulevard, will be sentenced June 26 by Judge John McAdams.
Chesbrough was arrested in 2010 and accused of stealing money in August 2009 from two clients. He pleaded guilty to felony exploitation of an elderly person and two counts of felony theft, in exchange for other charges being dropped.
The most serious crime Chesbrough pleaded guilty to is punishable by four to 15 years in prison, but probation of up to three years also is possible, along with fines and restitution.
McAdams will decide that as Chesbrough entered a “cold plea.”
“The attorneys have not been able to work that (sentence) out so it’s entirely up to me,” McAdams told Chesbrough.
Charles Colburn, an attorney with the state’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, said Chesbrough stole more than $110,000 from a client whose mother had passed away and her home was put up for sale. Chesbrough was in charge of maintaining an escrow account of the funds from the home’s sale, but he took the money and wrote the victim a check in September 2009 that bounced because there was only $3 in the account.
He also stole some $22,000 from another client, Colburn said. This time, the money was put into an account for a potential sale, but the sale fell through. Chesbrough wrote the victim a check that also bounced because there was “only several dollars left” in the account.
Chesbrough confessed his actions to police, Colburn said.
The victims in the cases have since been paid more than $223,000 from the Client Protection Program operated by the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which has disbarred Chesbrough.
Any restitution Chesbrough is ordered to pay as part of sentencing will go to the ARDC because all victims have been made whole financially.
Defense attorney Gary Johnson said he could not comment on how Chesbrough spent the stolen money.