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How an Amtrak employee schemed to take $30,000 from 'Polar Express'

A Downers Grove man might end up on Santa's naughty list this Christmas for using a beloved “Polar Express” holiday train ride to stuff his own stocking.

Benjamin Sheets, 50, pleaded guilty Thursday to making false statements to Amtrak's Office of the Inspector General about a scheme in which prosecutors said he steered more than $30,000 in revenue from the event to his wife's photography business.

The Polar Express is a family-oriented holiday event on which decorated trains depart Union Station daily during the month of December, with actors re-enacting the ride from the 2004 “Polar Express” movie starring Tom Hanks.

Sheets was the head of Amtrak transportation at Union Station in Chicago last year, authorities said. He also worked as business manager for his wife's company.

According to federal court documents, Sheets told his wife in September 2016 to come up with “a package deal” to photograph the holiday celebration. In November, she emailed him, saying their family was more than $25,000 in debt. “We need to write an agreement for Polar Express,” he replied, according to federal prosecutors.

But Amtrak policy requires competitive bids for contracts of $25,000 or more. And employees are supposed to tell their bosses about financial conflicts of interest. Sheets sidestepped both requirements, authorities say.

His wife set up a booth at the station to take riders' photos. At $10 a pop, she sold 3,679 of them and her company ultimately received a check for $30,535 for its services, court documents state.

When Sheets learned Amtrak was investigating the setup, he got the firm that ran the event to prepare a phony, backdated contract to make it appear it had hired his wife, authorities say.

Sheets now faces up to five years in prison when sentenced Feb. 27.

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A judge has dismissed Louis Alexander Bertaux's $1 billion lawsuit against the Kane County jail. He sued earlier this year, alleging he was unlawfully prevented from voting in November.

Killing his patriotic spirit

Back in June, we told you about a Geneva man who filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the Kane County jail because he wasn't able to vote while locked up on Election Day last year.

Legal Affairs Writer Harry Hitzeman told us that a judge has thrown out the suit, ruling that Louis Alexander Bertaux's claims are legally deficient.

Bertaux, 54, was in jail Nov. 8 awaiting trial on a weapons-related charge. His suit alleged he was mocked about the election's outcome by a Trump-supporting correctional officer while his request for an absentee ballot was ignored.

Bertaux was not in court for his lawsuit's dismissal, records show, but he did pen an impassioned plea for the suit to stand.

“Inaction by the defendants in the face of knowledge of plaintiff's desire to vote, and repeated inquiries as to how to obtain his absentee ballot, and the procedures involved, exhibit callous and reckless disregard and deliberate indifference to plaintiff's exigent concern and stresses suffered, indicative of their custom, and continuing pattern of constitutional violations of detainees' rights, directly causing injury in Mr. Bertaux's patriotic American spirit, killing his spirit and inner being,” he wrote.

<h3 class="leadin">More than making arrests

Congrats to the suburban police officers who were among 25 across the state recently named 2017 MADD Heroes by the Illinois Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

The award honors law enforcement officers for extraordinary efforts to save lives by getting drunken drivers off the roads.

This year's winners include officer Dion Thiergood of Lake Zurich; officer Tracy Heusinkveld of Naperville; officer Adam Carson of Lake in the Hills; Officer Paul Dublinski of Elgin; and officers Daniel Stafiej and Hilary Mabbitt of Carol Stream.

“It's not all about making arrests,” Thiergood said. “It's more about making sure you get home safely and you didn't hurt yourself or others.”

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Officer Rebecca Foy is among the Vernon Hills police officers wearing a pink T-shirt and using pink handcuffs this month to show support for friends and family affected by breast cancer. Courtesy of Vernon Hills Police Department

Pink on patrol

The thin blue line in Vernon Hills will feature a dash of pink.

Police officers in the village are carrying pink handcuffs and wearing pink T-shirts under their uniforms this month to show their support for friends and family members affected by breast cancer. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

“Breast cancer has touched the lives of several of our officers and employees,” Chief Patrick Kreis said. “Officers wearing pink is a great way to raise awareness and spread the word that early detection is key to battling this disease.”

<h3 class="leadin">New chief needed ... again

Maple Park finds itself looking for a police chief again, a little more than a year after hiring one.

Tony Ayala resigned in mid-September, according to Village President Kathy Curtis. The village has tapped its former chief, Mike Acosta, to serve as interim chief.

It is a full-time gig, paying $50,000 to $52,000 a year. The chief oversees a half-dozen officers and two volunteers who run its drop-in program for youths. Applications are due Oct. 31.

<h3 class="leadin">No one safe from scams

Even police get scam calls.

North Aurora police reported Tuesday that a member of their department got an automated call on his work cellphone (an unlisted number), supposedly from Haymarket, Virginia. It said that the department employee was being sued by the federal government and should call the Internal Revenue Service.

Playing along, he called the given number. It was answered by a woman with a heavy accent claiming to be with the Inspector General's Office of the IRS. When asked about the validity of the call, she hung up.

Got a tip? Send an email to copsandcrime@dailyherald.com or call (847) 427-4483.

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