Ex-Highwood Deputy Fire Chief Avoids Jail for Doctoring Pay Records

A former Highwood deputy fire chief was given two years probation, 150 hours of public service and verbal dressing down by a Lake County Circuit judge during his sentencing Thursday, the Pioneer Press reports.

Ronald Pieri was convicted in December on felony false entry for doctoring payroll records while he was deputy chief and shift commander with the Highwood Fire Department from 2006 to 2010. Pieri also was charged with felony counts of official misconduct and theft of government property when he was arrested in 2011, but he was found not guilty.

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Before serving as shift commander and deputy chief, Pieri was the department's chief from 1992 to 2004. He was demoted, however, because of disciplinary issues, according to the Pioneer Press.

While delivering Pieri's sentence, which also included paying court costs and making a $2,000 donation to a Highwood family resource center, Judge Victoria Rossetti excoriated the former fire official for his conduct, according to the report:

"You were lazy, arrogant, self-centered. You have seen yourself as the victim because you were demoted as chief, and you were going to take advantage of the City of Highwood. ... With this conviction, you will probably never serve as a firefighter again. You will have to live with that every single day."

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