FORMER DU-COMM EMPLOYEE SENTENCED TO 364 DAYS IN COUNTY JAIL

WHEATON – DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett today announced that Shaun A. Lang, 28 (d.o.b. 4/6/1979), 134 Meadows Drive, Gilberts, a former employee of DuPage Communications/DU-COMM, was sentenced today to 364 days in the DuPage County Jail Work Release Program for stealing more than $150,000 from the agency.  DU-COMM is an intergovernmental agency formed in 1975 to provide emergency communications services to DuPage County police, fire and emergency medical departments.  On April 26, Lang entered a blind plea of guilty in front of Judge Michael Burke to one count of Theft of Property in excess of $100,000, a Class 1 Felony and one count of Official Misconduct, a Class 3 Felony.    

            The charges against Lang stem from allegations that between May 2003, and December 2005, Lang stole DU-COMM funds on numerous occasions either through issuing false invoices to a fictitious company he created or charging personal expenses on DU-COMM credit accounts.  In total, he is alleged to have embezzled more than $150,000 from DU-COMM over a period of approximately two and one half years.  An internal investigation by DU-COMM uncovered the theft.  Officials at DU-COMM then turned over their findings to the Glendale Heights Police Department who concluded the investigation.

            At the sentencing hearing Assistant State’s Attorney Tim Diamond recommended a sentence of seven years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

            “We requested a significant penitentiary sentence because of the egregious violation of the public trust displayed by Shaun Lang in the commission of these crimes over the past two and one half years,” commented Birkett.  “For his crimes, Mr. Lang will spend the next 364 nights behind bars.  He is also now a convicted felon who will never be put in a position where he will be able to betray the public trust again.”

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