Former District 220 maintenance worker guilty of theft

A former Barrington Unit District 220 maintenance worker charged with the theft of district funds in late 2010 has pleaded guilty.

William G. Schwartz, of Burlington, Wis. was charged in December 2010 with felony theft after police investigators followed up on a report of suspicious transactions and determined he had falsely billed the district at least $100,000 through two fictitious parts vendors.

Schwartz, who had been an employee of the school district since 1987, will lose his public pension and must pay approximately $11,000 in restitution for the cost of an audit and the insurance deductible, district officials said Friday.

The district’s insurance company has already restored approximately $985,00 in public funds stolen by Schwartz over about 20 years, according to investigators, district officials said.

In a statement released Friday, District 220 Superintendent Tom Leonard wrote, “This situation regrettably transpired over several years before accounting technologies and tracking systems advanced to their current state.

“As a result, Barrington 220 has completed a thorough review of procedures and has implemented stricter guidelines for verifying and paying outside vendors.”

Though the insurance company has restored the school district’s missing funds, the company may now take its own civil action against Schwartz, Leonard wrote.

Though Schwartz’s charges carried a potential sentence of six to 30 years in prison, the district’s understanding is that he pleaded guilty in order to avoid prison time, District 220 spokesman Jeff Arnett said.