March 28, 2024
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Local News

Rep. Wheeler bill tightens penalties for non-profit thieves

Food Pantry theft spurs action by former organization board member

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A local legislator and former board chairman for the Kendall County Food Pantry wants those convicted of theft from non-profit organizations punished more severely.

Rep. Keith Wheeler, R-Oswego, has filed a bill stating that anyone convicted of theft from a non-profit, 501(c)(3) organization be sentenced to one felony class higher than other convicted thieves. Theft that qualifies as a Class X felony would have a minimum penalty of seven years in state prison, according to the proposed bill.

Wheeler said he was spurred on by the alleged theft from the Food Pantry that is part of an ongoing law enforcement investigation. Wheeler served on the Food Pantry board until 2014.

Police executed search warrants on the Food Pantry building in Yorkville and a Kendall County residence in June. Police said the search warrants were part of an investigation regarding "suspicious transactions and possible theft of funds from the Kendall County Food Pantry accounts."

Six days after the search warrants were executed, Maria Spaeth, then the food pantry's executive director, and her husband, Ken, resigned from their duties at the pantry, according to food pantry officials. Maria Spaeth, a Yorkville resident, was found dead two weeks later at her Lake Holiday vacation home of an apparent prescription drug overdose, according to DeKalb County Coroner Dennis Miller.

Recently, a new board took over the organization's leadership and the organization's name was changed to Kendall County Community Food Pantry Inc.

Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis announced recently that a special prosecutor has been assigned to the theft case. Judge Timothy McCann appointed a special prosecutor from the Illinois Office of the State's Attorney Appellate Prosecutor.

Weis, a former Food Pantry board member, said the special prosecutor was needed "due to me being a potential witness in the case."

Wheeler said the Food Pantry theft case has "hit home" for him.

"The issues that surround what happened here recently at the Food Pantry certainly hit home for me and my family," he said. "The fact that what happened, and I don't even know what all happened, could have that much impact on an organization that takes care of so many people in multiple ways."

Wheeler said he would like to see other reforms, but that he doesn't want any such reforms to result in more costs for non-profit organizations.

"We're going to look at other things as well, because I think there's an education component to this," he said. "We haven't solved that mystery yet because, one of our goals is not to raise the cost of doing business for not-for-profits in Illinois. because it's already hard enough to make it work."

Wheeler said the penalty was justified because such a theft impacts an entire community.

"You're not hurting one individual or one organization, you're hurting so many," he said. "Not-for-profits have a general purpose - that's why they've been granted that 501(c)(3) status - but they're serving a community. So the whole community is being taken from when these kinds of thefts occur. It impacts a larger entity - our community - and we think the penalty should be larger as well."

Wheeler said he spoke with local prosecutors about the bill, including Weis.

"It wasn't a long conversation when they realized the goal was to give them better tools, to make this more meaningful," he said. "The punishment is going to be severe. Stealing from a non-profit is going to become a felony."

Wheeler said such a theft hits volunteers and donors hard.

"My wife and I have talked about this more than I can explain," he said. "We feel as though we were stolen from, because... the most substantial part of our not-for-profit giving, our charitable giving, for years has been the Kendall County Food Pantry. So whether it's thousands of dollars, or in our case thousands of hours, both for us, frankly, it's a meaningful thing. It just rips your heart out that anyone would do that, or could do that."

Such a theft also makes donors question whether they should be giving to the organization, at a time when the non-profit needs support from the community, according to Wheeler.

"You'll see the 'why' behind this is really to protect those volunteers, to protect the people who are in need, and the donors from thinking that they shouldn't put their money in their community," he said. "They should. That's the best place to put it. That's why we put this together."