Woman who stole $300K from Washington Park might go back to prison
A former Washington Park village clerk who went to jail in 2009 for stealing $300,000 in village funds will find out in two weeks whether she is going back to prison for violating the terms of her parole.
Linda Connor, after serving a three-year prison term, has been free on federal supervised released. One of the stipulations of her parole is that she could not open any new credit card accounts without approval.
Connor, who was released from prison May 25, 2012, allegedly ignored the requirement, and federal agents found out about new credit lines she opened. Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Smith had her brought back to court Friday, seeking to have a judge rule that she violated parole and should go back behind bars.
Connor, 60, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Donald G. Wilkerson. She is scheduled to appear in court again on May 29, before U.S. District Judge David R. Herndon.
Connor, wearing a mustard-colored suit, stood before Wilkerson to answer routine questions from the judge. When Wilkerson asked whether she’s aware that prosecutors want to revoke her parole, she replied softly, “Yes, sir.”
Prosecutors told Wilkerson they were OK with Connor remaining free on a recognizance bond until her appearance before Herndon. After signing paperwork, and being warned of the consequences of committing a crime while she’s out, Connor left the federal courthouse in East St. Louis.
Connor, who now resides in Belleville, was indicted on one count of filing a false tax return in 2007 and one count of misapplication of federal funds under the control of local government in 2006. As part of her sentence, she to be placed under supervised release for three years. Connor also was ordered to repay $429,689.58 in restitution.
At the time of the theft, Connor, who had started in April 2005 working as an assistant to Mayor James Jones, began obtaining unauthorized money from the village. This continued throughout 2006 and 2007. Some of the money was from federal grants.
During the same time frame that Connor was embezzling money, Dorothy Triplett, a payroll clerk, was embezzling money from the village, too. Triplett assisted in issuing extra payroll checks to Connor. While Connor was stealing from the village, the village incurred large debts to the employee pension plan, court document shows.
This story was originally published May 19, 2015 at 10:15 AM with the headline "Woman who stole $300K from Washington Park might go back to prison."