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Health & Fitness

Blast from the Past: Ex-Lisle Park Director Pleads Guilty



It was only 13 yrs. ago....

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Former Lisle Parks Boss Enters Guilty Plea In Theft

Oct 2000

Chicago Tribune reporting.

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"The former director of the Lisle Park District has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of theft of services involving the deceptive use of a Park District employee.

DuPage Circuit Judge Jane Mitton placed Kim Paetschow, director from 1993 until she resigned under pressure in June, to a year's conditional discharge and ordered her to perform 120 hours of community service.

Under conditional discharge, Paetschow does not have to report to a probation officer, but she faces resentencing should she incur any criminal charges in the next year.

Last month, after a lengthy investigation of the troubled district's financial operations, the DuPage County state's attorney's office filed the charge against Paetschow for using the services of a district employee in May 1999 without the consent of the park board.

Details of the theft have not been disclosed.

"Since it was a first-time offense, I can understand the sentence," board President Kim Brondyke said.

She said the board is angry it did not receive notice from the state's attorney's office that Paetschow's hearing, originally scheduled for Monday, was held last week.

Brondyke, another board member, and the Park District's attorney, James Wascher, discovered the change when they arrived at the courthouse Monday, only to be told the hearing already had been held.

"It was sneaky," Brondyke said. "The taxpayers of the district, who have been wronged, should have been told so they could have had a representative in court or appear themselves. And we were denied that. Where is the respect for those whose trust she violated?"

Wascher said it was the third time the state's attorney's office had kept the Park District in the dark about proceedings in the case. The district was not told when the misdemeanor charge was filed or the original date of the hearing, he said, adding that the omissions will be noted in a letter to the state's attorney's office.

Assistant State's Atty. Neil F. Thompson said Monday that the hearing was rescheduled at the request of Paetschow's attorney, John Wieser, who cited a time conflict.

Thompson said negotiations over Paetschow making restitution took place with Wieser before the misdemeanor charges were filed by the county.

When she resigned, Paetschow gave the district a check for $3,728 without identifying its purpose. The district deposited the check as miscellaneous income.

According to court records, Wieser asked Mitton to allow Paetschow to perform her community service with Holy Spirit Catholic Community, a 2-year-old church in Naperville. The county's Probation Department has to approve the arrangement.

Rev. Richard Bennett, the church's pastor, confirmed that Paetschow is a member of his congregation, but he said he was unaware of the community service arrangement. Paetschow is one of the church's catechism instructors, Bennett said.

Park board members and several employees testified before a DuPage County grand jury that convened in February. Their testimony coincided with an investigation by the district into possible financial improprieties.

Last week, the board approved hiring former Oak Brook Park District director Roy A. Cripe as its new director, effective Nov. 13. The board also plans to phase in reforms based on recommendations by consultants hired this year to examine the district's policies and procedures.

Paetschow's resignation followed the firing of Sally Atwell, who was head of the district's fledgling non-profit arm. Lisle Park District commissioners recently voted to appeal a ruling by the state's Employment Security Department allowing Atwell to receive severance compensation. After Paetschow's resignation, the district paid her about $11,000 for unused and accumulated vacation and sick days.

A Tribune examination of district records found that Paetschow and her associates rang up more than $50,000 in questionable credit charges. Most of the charges, which were paid with district funds, were omitted from the district's monthly expense reports.

Paetschow also gave Atwell more than $5,000 in unauthorized pay raises, and there was repeated under-reporting of cellular telephone charges by Paetschow and her associates dating to at least 1998."

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