A woman has been sentenced to 18 months of periodic imprisonment after pleading guilty to stealing nearly $300,000 from a company she worked for near Barrington.
Bette A. Nicotra-Lemke, 58, of Carol Stream, was charged in August 2020 with two counts of theft between $100,000 and $500,000 and one count of money laundering between $100,000 and $500,000. All three charges are Class 1 felonies.
The owner of a business in unincorporated Barrington made a report with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office on April 2, 2018, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Chief Christopher Covelli.
The owner reported an ongoing internal theft he had discovered.
During an audit, he found nearly $300,000 had been stolen from the company’s bank account.
The thefts occurred over a number of years, Covelli said. The thefts date back to 2011.
Covelli said that detectives learned Nicotra-Lemke wrote a number of checks to herself from the business.
The owner of the business never wrote nor approved the checks to be written to the woman.
Detectives were able to subpoena financial records which confirmed Nicotra-Lemke stole nearly $300,000 from the business, Covelli said.
Sheriff’s detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Nicotra-Lemke in August 2020 and she was arrested in December 2020 on the warrant.
Court records show Nicotra-Lemke entered into a negotiated plea deal with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office last week.
She pleaded guilty to one count of theft between $100,000 and $500,000 in exchange for the two other charges being dismissed.
Nicotra-Lemke was sentenced to 18 months of periodic imprisonment and four years of probation, court records show.
She was also ordered to not consume any alcohol or drugs and ordered to follow several other conditions.