This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Six Months Later in the DuPage Forest Preserve IT Criminal Case -- 317 Felony Counts of Nothing in Particular

Three men still waiting to be formally charged. Why so long?

 

Originally posted at CountyLeaks

PART SIX OF A COUNTYLEAKS SERIES...

Find out what's happening in Glen Ellynwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Part OnePart TwoPart ThreePart FourPart Five

Nearly six months after filing 317 felony counts against two former Information Technology (IT) department employees of the DuPage Forest Preserve District and a former vendor, the DuPage County State's Attorney's office has yet to produce the bill of particulars -- the formal, detailed, written complaint of charges -- as required by law (725 ILCS 5/111-6).

Find out what's happening in Glen Ellynwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Citizen watchdogs speculate that this delay involves the numerous political ties and lack of legitimacy of those behind the "secret internal investigation" initiated by the Forest Preserve -- a move which may have been prompted by a purchase order epiphany, as CountyLeaks questions today. Findings from this "investigation" were presented to the State's Attorney's office in November 2011. The bill of particulars would likely rely heavily on these findings.

The District's former director of its IT department, Mark McDonald, and the department manager, David Tepper, were each charged with 140 felony counts, while a third man, Arif Mahmood, who worked for Alamach Technology, Inc., an IT vendor for the District, was charged with 37 counts, in an alleged scheme stealing $150,000 from the Forest Preserve.

CountyLeaks was first to report on the staggering number of charges handed down by a grand jury on Halloween 2012. Lending perspective to these numbers, former Gov. George Ryan had 18 felony indictments in 2003 and former Gov. Rod Blagojevich had "only" 16 counts in 2009. 

Yet there was no customary press conference immediately following the grand jury's 317 felony counts. Three days earlier, CountyLeaks explained at length the political ties between the Forest Preserve, JRM Consulting and the State's Attorney's office...

Does a hand-written question on an Alamach purchase order provide a clue as to why the Forest Preserve conducted a "secret internal investigation"? Read the entire story at CountyLeaks 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?