Federal prosecutors dismissed fraud charges Friday against former Lincoln-Way District 210 Superintendent Lawrence Wyllie, who was accused of misspending millions in bond proceeds and using district funds on personal projects.
Prosecutors cited Wyllie’s on going health issues that have resulted in the case being continued for years as attorneys said he was unable to assist with his defense.
The case against Wyllie, who was District 210 superintendent from 1989 to 2013, dates to September 2017, came after a yearlong investigation by the Daily Southtown that exposed questionable financial practices at Lincoln-Way. These included private use of public funding and deals benefiting staff, including the development of a $45,000 dog-training center called Superdog.
Wyllie continues to collect a taxpayer funded pension that in 2020 was more than $351,000, and grows annually to account for cost-of-living increases, according to state records.
Federal prosecutors filed the motion to dismiss the case Friday after receiving medical records and other updated information about 85-year-old Wyllie’s health.
“Based on a review of those materials, the government seeks dismissal of the indictment because defendant’s various medical conditions are significant enough that the parties agree defendant cannot meaningfully contribute to his defense in this matter,” said the motion, signed by acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois Morris Pasqual.
Regular status reports filed by both prosecutors and the defense said Wyllie’s health problems have been “serious and ongoing” since August 2018. Reports have not gone into detail about the type of issues Wyllie is experiencing, though a filing from January of last year indicated his condition had taken a turn for the worse.
As leader of Lincoln-Way, which served high school students from New Lenox, Frankfort, Mokena, Manhattan and Tinley Park, Wyllie oversaw the district’s expansion from one to four campuses.
While the district’s problems would not become publicly visible until 2015, the building of new schools ate up cash reserves after issuing $204 million in bonds between 2006 and 2009. Prosecutors said at the time Wyllie was indicted that he fraudulently used bonds to cover up the district’s true financial state, leading the district to land on the state’s financial watch list and the school board to close Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort to cut expenses.
The understatement of operating expenditures and misuse of bond funds during that time was at least $7 million, prosecutors said.
ostevens@chicagotribune.com
