Crime & Safety
Man Convicted Of Stealing Woodstock Employer's Trade Secrets
Man convicted on 7 theft counts for stealing secret trade information from Woodstock firm while planning move to work for rival company.
CHICAGO, IL — The U.S Attorney's Office of Northern District of Illinois announced Thursday a federal jury has convicted a 30-year employee of Woodstock-Based Dura-Bar manufacturing firm, of stealing secret trade information while planning to move to China to work for a competitor. According to a release from the U.S Attorney's Office of Northern District of Illinois, Robert O'Rourke, 59, of Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, was convicted Monday by the jury in U.S. District Court in Chicago on seven counts of theft of trade secrets. The conviction was announced by John R. Lausch, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Jeffrey S. Sallet, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a release said.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said according to evidence at trial, O'Rourke has worked for Dura-Bar, a manufacture of continuous cast-iron products since 1984, and his positions included salesperson, plant metallurgist, and quality assurance manager. Officials said according to evidence that O'Rourke helped the company develop business in China and other locations, and started negotiating for several month in late 2013 to take a job with a rival firm in Jiangsu, China. That's where, according to officials, he eventually became Vice President.
According to a release, trial evidence revealed O'Rourke accepted the job offer in China in Sept. 2015, while still employed for Dura-Bar, and gathered electronic data and documents that belonged to the company without authorization just two days before officially leaving Dura-Bar.
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Trial evidence shows O'Rourke went to O’Hare International Airport with the secretive information with plans to board a flight to China, according to a release. However, Federal authorities intercepted O'Rourke at the airport and took the stolen trade secrets from him before he could go to China.
Officials said each of O'Rourke's seven counts are punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and his sentencing is scheduled for June 3.
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