Deferred prosecution OK'd for Sugar Grove trustee charged with forgery
Sugar Grove Trustee Sean Michels, who was charged with forgery, has been accepted into the Kane County state's attorney's deferred prosecution program.
If Michels completes the program, the Kane County state's attorney will dismiss the charges.
He appeared via Zoom at a court hearing on Tuesday.
Michels will have to pay $1,584 in fines, fees, costs and assessments, according to court records. He has to return to court on May 7 for a status update.
Michels, 60, declined to comment about the case on Tuesday.
He was charged in July with two felony counts of forgery and two felony counts of issuing or delivering a forged document.
He is accused of forging the signature of a North Aurora building department official on a certificate of occupancy for a home in the Moose Lake Estates subdivision and presenting the forged document to a title company.
Michels works for a company that builds custom homes.
According to a North Aurora police report, the forgery was discovered when a homeowner inquired about getting a permit to build a swimming pool. North Aurora employees were confused, however, because they had not issued an occupancy certificate for the house.
The owner received the certificate, dated July 3, when they closed on the purchase on July 7.
However, according to the report, the building inspector whose name was on the certificate had only worked a half-day on July 3 and could not have signed the certificate. Also, there were multiple formatting errors, and the lot number was wrong. The signature appeared to be copied and pasted from another certificate, according to the police report.
Michels was elected trustee in April. He was village president from 1999 to 2021.
In the deferred prosecution program, the applicant is interviewed by a panel of private citizens, who make a recommendation to the state's attorney. Input also is sought from the police department and the victim. The defendant must make a videotaped statement admitting to the elements of the case and their role in it.