Crime & Safety
Former Christian Liberty Academy Employee Charged in Financial Scheme
Michael Burrei is accused of stealing more than $293,000 from the local private school over a 15-month period.
The former chief technology officer at Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights faces felony charges for allegedly rerouting funds brought in from the private school's online store into his own personal checking account, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Michael Burrei, 41, of Nashville, Tenn., has been charged with theft from a school or place of worship and continuing a financial crimes enterprise for allegedly stealing more than $293,000 from the local private school over a 15-month period, according to a Cook County State's Attorney's Office press release.
According to prosecutors, Burrei was hired in 2011 by Christian Liberty Academy for the position of Chief Technology Officer. In July 2013, Burrei created a PayPal account to link to the school’s website to enable purchases to be made from the school’s online store. The revenue generated by the site was deposited directly into the PayPal account which was managed solely by Burrei, according to the news release.
Between August of 2013 and November of 2014, investigators determined that more than 100 transfers were made from the PayPal account administered by Burrei into his personal checking account. According to investigators, during this time Burrei was incurring extensive personal expenses, debiting between $10,000 and $35,000 per month from his checking account.
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The school’s PayPal account was closed by Burrei without the authority of administrators from the Christian Liberty Academy on Dec. 29, 2014 with a balance of $0. When school officials confronted Burrei about the closure, he said he was not responsible and claimed that the account had over $273,000 in it.
In January of 2015 Burrei resigned from his position at the school and relocated to Nashville. Earlier this year, detectives from the Arlington Heights Police Department located Burrei at his home in Nashville where Burrei allegedly admitted to making the transfers to his personal account and agreed to return to Illinois to surrender to authorities, according to the news release.
Burrei appeared in bond court in Cook County on Wednesday where his bond was set at $100,000. He is next expected in court on April 22.
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