Former CEO of Naperville Adoption Agency Gets Prison Time for Embezzlement

A 52-year-old former Naperville resident has been sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for funneling money from an adoption agency to his wife and to cover “lavish personal expenses and travel,” according to the Chicago Tribune.

Robert Geniesse helped to found Our Children’s Homestead in Naperville, which was meant to find homes for special needs children.

He is accused of spending thousands to finance a short film about adoption and Illinois Assistant Attorney General Edward Show during a sentencing on Thursday said Geniesse misspent $900,000 in funds that belonged to Our Children’s Homestead, the Chicago Tribune reports.

Court files show that amount to be closer to $200,000 and Geniesse was ordered last week to pay $100,000 in restitution.

Geniesse was found guilty of theft, personal use of charitable trust funds, wire fraud and forgery while he served as CEO of Our Children’s Homestead, according to a press release from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.

While CEO of the charity, Geniesse was found to have used business credit cards for personal expenses in 2010 and 2011.

Geniesse charged purchases to the charity, including expensive camera equipment, shopping trips to Neiman Marcus for cosmetics, home goods at Pottery Barn and Ethan Allen, a $600 trip to Binny’s Beverage Depot, and costly restaurant tabs, including a nearly $1,000 tab at Morton’s in Naperville, according to the news release.

Geniesse also expensed lavish trips, including an outing to a Minnesota Vikings game, Chicago Bulls game, over $1,300 at Luxury Link in Los Angeles, and $3,800 in airline tickets overseas, according to the press release.

Madigan said none of these expenses were tied to his role as CEO of the adoption agency.

“The defendant betrayed the charitable mission of the organization he led, instead choosing to enrich himself and steal from his group’s donors and the families who rely on its services,” Madigan said.