McHenry County Blog

The Sun-Times article reports a re-run of what happened in Judge Thomas Meyer's courtroom during Zane Seipler's case seeking a Special Prosecutor to investigate Sheriff Keith Nygren.

The Richard Daley nephew who decked a young man who ended up dead is following the example of McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygren.

R.J. Vanecko is petitioning Cook County Judge Michael Toomin to be allowed to participate in the proceedings of whether or not a Special Prosecutor should be appointed.

As in McHenry County, the Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez does not think a Special Prosecutor should be named.

Nygren, under threat of a Special Prosecutor being named to probe his use of office resources for political purposes, hired Mark Gummerson to insert his presence (as an individual, not in his official capacity as Sheriff) in the case before Associated Judge Thomas Meyer.

Nygren succeeded, even participating in Zane Seipler’s attorney’s deposition of McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi.

But, Judge Meyer changed his mind, concluding that it was not appropriate to have the person who might be investigated involved in the selection of his Special Prosecutor.

So, will what happened in a somewhat similar case reach the eyes of Cook County law enforcement officials.

Somehow I doubt it.

The services provided by an Algonquin man is akin to the housing provided by the builder of this condo building.

A press release from Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez:

Two Suburban Men Charged With Stealing More Than $1 Million From Not-For-Profit Insurance Association

Bond was set at $ 1 million today for two suburban men charged with bilking an insurance industry association out of more than $ 1 million dollars in a scheme that spanned six years, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced today.

Harvey Cruz, 46, of Plainfield, and James Lurito, 63, of Algonguin, are each charged with one count of Felony Theft in excess of $500,000. Cruz is also facing an additional charge of Organizing a Continuing Financial Crimes Enterprise, a Class X Felony. All of the charges are non-probationable.

According to prosecutors, Cruz was the Information Technology Manager for the Million Dollar Round Table (MRDT), an insurance industry association made up of more than 30,000 of the top insurance producers worldwide. The agency conducts training seminars for members and also supports a philanthropic foundation.

Cruz had worked for MRDT for nine years before advancing to become the association’s I.T. Manager. In 2003, prosecutors allege that Cruz devised an embezzlement scheme and recruited Lurito, who operated an independent I.T. consulting firm, to participate.

To facilitate the scheme, prosecutors allege that Lurito would submit phony bills for I.T. work which would be personally approved by Cruz.

Per their arrangement, Lurito would then transfer 90% of the funds to Cruz or a company he controlled and keep the remainder for himself.

Prosecutors allege that the thefts occurred between 2003 and 2009 and totaled more than $1.1 million.

In 2009 the fraudulent payments were discovered and the organization contacted the Park Ridge Police Department and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office Public Corruption and Financial Crimes Unit.

Cruz and Lurito were arrested yesterday and they appeared in bond court today at the Cook County Criminal Courthouse in Skokie, where Judge Timothy Chambers set bond for each man at $1 million. The next court date in the case was set for January 3.

The public is reminded that criminal charging documents contain allegations that are not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the state has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.