Woman charged with stealing more than $100,000 from Woodridge employer

A woman has been charged with stealing more than $100,000 from her employer, Indiana Sugars Inc., while working at the company's Woodridge outpost.

But attorney Michael E. Baker says his client, Linda Longmore, has already paid back the money, and that she only took it to pay medical bills for her late husband while he was being treated for cancer. "She was desperate to pay the medical bills, to keep fighting," Baker said Wednesday.

Longmore, 68, of the 2500 block of Peach Street in Portage, Indiana, was indicted by the DuPage County grand jury Aug. 15, and a warrant was issued for her arrest. Bail was set at $50,000, but she will be able to be freed if she pays $5,000.

Longmore has arranged to turn herself in to DuPage County authorities when she appears in court Sept. 4, according to Baker.

The indictment alleges that between March 5, 2010, and Dec. 1, 2016, she stole the money by altering paystubs to add more dollars to her paychecks. Longmore was a payroll clerk, Baker said.

She was indicted on one count of theft - exerted control and one count of theft by deception.

Indiana Sugars' owns five companies. Its website says one of them, Sweet Specialty Solutions, is at 1005 101st St. in Lemont, but the site is actually in Woodridge.

Baker filed motions Tuesday for bail reduction and to quash the arrest warrant. In the bond motion, he wrote Longmore is a widow, as her husband died in November 2013; that she lives on a fixed income; and that she doesn't own any property or securities that could be used to post bond.

Baker said Wednesday that Longmore worked for Indiana Sugars for 35 years, mostly at a site in Gary, Indiana. He said she finished repaying the company approximately $240,000, including interest, by June 1, 2017.

"I'm quite frankly surprised the DuPage County state's attorney did not exercise discretion," Baker said.