Prosecutor Assigned to Kane County Lawyer's Case

Chicago - To avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest within the Kane County state's attorney's office, an Illinois appellate prosecutor has been assigned to the criminal case against William C. Chesbrough, the local lawyer charged last month with bilking two area residents out of $140,000, Kane County State's Attorney John Barsanti said.

Elgin police on Nov. 11 arrested Chesbrough, 57, of 1401 Grande Point Blvd., West Dundee, on two counts of felony theft and one count of felony financial exploitation of an elderly person.

Between 2006 and 2009, Chesbrough allegedly stole a combined $140,000 from a 69-year-old Hampshire woman and a man from West Dundee while handling their respective legal affairs. Chesbrough was released from police custody after posting $3,000 bond on his $30,000 bail.

Chesbrough is accused of failing to return more than $120,000 at the end of a three-year probate filing to the Hampshire woman, who had hired the Elgin lawyer to help her with an estate, police said. Chesbrough allegedly wrote the Hampshire woman a check for about $120,000 to cover the missing money, but the check never cleared the bank, police said.

Chesbrough is also accused of holding about $20,000 in an escrow-type account for a West Dundee man's family to use to build a new house, police said. When plans to build the home fell through, Chesbrough was supposed to return the money to the family, but the check that Chesbrough wrote allegedly never cleared.

On Dec. 4, the Kane County state's attorney's office filed for a special prosecutor to handle the Chesbrough case in order to avoid the possibility of, or appearance of, a conflict of interest.

Chesbrough served under Kane County State's Attorneys Meg Gorecki and Barsanti in a special assistant state's attorney capacity for a number of years, Barsanti explained. In the past Chesbrough had been appointed by Gorecki and Barsanti to represent the Kane County transportation department when legal counsel was needed.

"In essence, he worked for me," Barsanti said. "And the ethics code says I have to avoid even the appearance of a conflict. So let's say our office offered (Chesbrough) some sort of plea bargain, the citizens could say, 'Hey, did he get the same thing regular citizens would get?"

Barsanti said that by having a special prosecutor handle the case, none of the decisions related to Chesbrough will come from his office, and Barsanti can avoid any conflict of interest.

During Chesbrough's status hearing appearance at Kane County Court in St. Charles on Friday, defense attorney Gary V. Johnson of the Aurora firm Camic Johnson, Ltd. filed a motion for discovery in the Chesbrough case, court records said. Kane County Judge James C. Hallock reportedly granted the request and also recused himself as judge on the case.

Kane County Judge Jordan T. Gallagher was appointed to replace Hallock, court documents said. Hallock could not be reached for comment Friday on his decision to recuse himself.

Chesbrough is scheduled to appear at 9 a.m. Jan. 21 at the Kane County Judicial Center in St. Charles for an arraignment before Kane County Judge Jordan T. Gallagher. At that time, Chesbrough will have an opportunity to enter a plea.

If convicted on the most serious charge against him, Chesbrough faces up to 15 years in prison plus fines and disbarment.

Chesbrough has been practicing law since 1980, according to the Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission of the Supreme Court of Illinois registry. His office is located on Point Boulevard in Elgin.

The state commission reports that there are no discipline or pending proceedings on Chesbrough's record so far.

The next court date is set for Jan. 21 at 9 a.m. for an arraignment at the St. Charles main courthouse.