For months, board members and other volunteers with the nonprofit Kendall County Food Pantry waited for word on the Yorkville police investigation into the possible theft of as much as $200,000 in pantry funds
During that time, the facility was renamed the Kendall County Community Food Pantry, a new corporation with a new board of directors.
When the pantry’s former treasurer and his late wife’s father were indicted Tuesday on theft charges, it came as confirmation the food pantry may have been wronged, but now it’s up to the courts to determine how and, if so, how much, said board chairman Greg Witek.
“For six months, there was no news,” Witek said. “Now that there is news, everybody is encouraged things are moving forward… this is just another step in the process to get to a point where, in a perfect world, we all would like to see that the funds are paid back.”
A grand jury indicted both Kenneth M. Spaeth and William T. Crowley Tuesday in Kendall County on charges of theft or unauthorized control of between $10,000 and $100,000, alleging each “knowingly exerted unauthorized control over property of the Kendall County Food Pantry.”
The allegations against Spaeth span Dec. 1, 2013, through April 30, 2016, while those against Crowley are for July 1, 2013, through March 31, 2016.
Pantry board members are considering a civil suit and other possibilities to seek restitution depending on the outcome of the criminal trial, Witek said.
However, with many long-time pantry associates still reeling from Maria Spaeth’s drug overdose death weeks after police announced their investigation, and given how the community looked up to the Spaeths, pantry officials aren’t exactly celebrating.
“Certainly everyone is feeling better that the wheels of justice are rolling forward,” Witek said. But, “None of us want to fist bump… there is nobody here that’s walking around town with pitchforks. Because there is a relationship that has gone on for a long time with the family, there is a care and a concern for the family.”
That concern extends to the Spaeth children, Witek said.
“There are kids in this family and they have to go through this,” Witek said. “If we could figure out a way the kids weren’t impacted… (but) regardless of who is embarrassed, who is harmed in this process, our responsibility is to our clients.”
Bail for both Spaeth and Crowley was set at $25,000 and warrant orders were issued for their arrests, according to the indictments.
Spaeth, 55, was arrested on a warrant Tuesday at his address on the 1300 block of Park Place, Sandwich, according to Kendall County Sheriff’s Office reports. Spaeth posted the $2,500 cash bond Tuesday.
To Witek’s knowledge, Crowley was arrested in Arizona, he said.
Yorkville police began investigating the possible theft of up to $200,000 from the pantry in early June after more than one volunteer reported suspicious transactions and possible theft of funds from pantry accounts.
As part of the theft investigation, the Yorkville Police Department served search warrants June 1 on both the Kendall County Food Pantry building and a personal residence in Kendall County, according to officials.
Spaeth and his late wife, former Kendall County Food Pantry Executive Director Maria Spaeth, both resigned from their positions June 7.
Maria Spaeth died of a prescription drug overdose weeks after she resigned, according to the DeKalb County Coroner’s Office.
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In July, Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis, who served on the food pantry’s executive board until May 2014, signed a motion to appoint a special prosecutor in the Kendall County Food Pantry investigation. On Jan. 13, Charles M. Colburn of the Office of the State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor signed an oath of office to serve as special prosecutor in the case.
Weis on Thursday said he suspects there is a possibility he may be called as a witness in the trial since he served on the pantry’s board, but deferred most questions to Colburn.
Colburn did not immediately return a message left with his office seeking comment.
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