Friday, April 17, 2015

Former Boone County employee sentenced to 5 years in prison for stealing money - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

 

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  • By Ben Stanley
    Rockford Register Star

    Posted Apr. 16, 2015 at 4:28 PM
    Updated Apr 16, 2015 at 4:32 PM

    BELVIDERE — Former Boone County employee Donna Osoria was sentenced to five years in prison Thursday for stealing more than $24,000 in bond money while working in the circuit clerk's office.
    Osoria, 58, pleaded guilty to felony theft on Dec. 4, 2014.
    On Thursday, Boone County Circuit Clerk Linda Anderson testified that between March 15, 2010 and June 22, 2012, Osoria engaged in a cash lapping scheme with bond money paid to the circuit clerk's office for various unrelated felonies and misdemeanors. 
    Osoria stole bonds paid on active cases and covered her tracks by transferring bonds paid on old and unrelated cases. She claimed she stole the money to help her mother pay rent.
    "She just needed my help and if she hadn't needed my help I wouldn't be here right now," Osoria said. "I'm not a bad person I just made a really, really, really, really bad mistake. And in turn that mistake cost me just about everything that mattered to me."
    However, Osoria's mother died in 2011 and thefts continued well into 2012. Judge Robert Tobin called Osoria's systematic approach to stealing bond money and covering her tracks a "true act of a criminal mind"
    "A mistake is different than an ongoing theft, and this is behavior that went on for 27 months," said Special Prosecutor Chuck Colburn. "That goes beyond a mistake. This is a criminal enterprise that went on and on and on."
  • Above is from:  Former Boone County employee sentenced to 5 years in prison for stealing money - News - Rockford Register Star - Rockford, IL

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