Schools
Ex-LW D210 Supt. Lawrence Wyllie Repaid $16K Bonus In May: Report
In a letter to the district, the former superintendent said he had been mistaken and had not qualified for the retirement bonus.
FRANKFORT, IL — Former Lincoln-Way High School District 210 Supt. Lawrence Wyllie repaid his $16,000 retirement bonus that he said he mistakenly took, according to the Chicago Tribune. Wyllie was indicted last year on five counts of wire fraud and a single count of embezzlement, and his trial is expected to begin in November.
In a letter sent in May to current D210 Supt. Scott Tingley, Wyllie wrote that he had "the honest, but mistaken, belief" that he could receive the bonus as part of the district's collective bargaining agreement at the time, the Tribune reports. The former district leader added that he was unaware that he was required to give four years' notice that he was retiring in order to be eligible for the $16,000, the report stated.
How this repayment will affect Wyllie's federal fraud case is unclear. Nor is it known why Lincoln-Way's superintendent from 1989 to 2013 repaid the bonus to the district.
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RELATED: Wyllie Gets New Date For Fraud Trial
A grand jury indicted Wyllie in September 2017, and he's accused of misusing school district bond money to finance his personal projects. That included allegedly spending $50,000 on Superdog, a dog-training school, as well as wrongly paying himself the $16,000 retirement bonus that he's now returned, according to the indictment.
Find out what's happening in Frankfortfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Wyllie also allegedly hid the district's "true financial health" while he was in charge of the school system, the indictment states. He's accused of generating at least $7 million in additional debt for District 210, according to the complaint. In 2015, Lincoln-Way landed on the state's financial watch list, which led to the closing of Lincoln-Way North High School in June 2016.
RELATED: Wyllie Indicted For Fraud
If convicted, Wyllie could face up to 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count. The embezzlement charge carries a maximum 10-year sentence if convicted.
His trial starts Nov. 26.
Former Lincoln-Way High School District 210 Supt. Lawrence Wyllie (Photo via L-W D210)
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