No Prison For Lake County Bar Exec Who Stole $250K

WAUKEGAN, IL — A former Lake County Bar Association executive director will serve two years of probation and pay a fine after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $250,000 from charitable funds, according to a report. Christopher Boadt, 52, resigned from the association in January, an event followed by a police investigation.

In the negotiated plea deal, Boadt admitted on Tuesday to committing one count of disbursing charitable funds without authority for personal benefit, the Daily Herald reports.

He issued himself a debit card and used it to incrementally steal $248,447 from the bar association and foundation funds. He did so between January 2014 and January 2018 "so as not to be obvious," his plea agreement said, according to the Herald.

Boadt's defense attorney said he "made some bad decisions and he is paying the price for those decisions, but he's a good person and I'm proud to count him as a friend."

However, the victim impact statements read by Jeffrey Berman of the Lake County Bar Foundation and by Jennifer Howe, president of the bar association at the time Boadt's theft came to light, paint a different picture.

"It bears repeating, in a very real sense, Mr. Boadt stole from the poor, the helpless, the infirm and the most disadvantaged people of our county," Berman said.

Howe read the victim impact statement as Boadt looked at her from the defense table, the Herald reported. "Some of us today still struggle with what to think of you," she said. "Some of us are convinced you are simply evil. Others do not believe that, but we all know now that what you did was an evil act."

The bar association's insurance paid them $150,000 for the losses, the Herald reports, and Boadt paid the remaining $98,447.

He also has to pay $1,500 in fines and serve 100 hours of community service, which is likely to be transferred to Clark County, Nevada, where he lives now, according to the Herald.

By comparison, Tyrone Wilson, 19, of Chicago, was sentenced to seven years in prison for being in possession of a stolen car. An Aurora weed dealer was sentenced to five years in prison for having just over four ounces of pot on him.

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