State’s Attorney Alvarez announces first conviction in “Operation Cookie Jar”

A former suburban village accountant charged recently in the State’s Attorney’s ongoing crackdown on local corruption has pled guilty and has received a significant prison sentence from a Cook County Judge, State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced today.

 

Martin Boyd, 62, the former accountant for Harwood Heights, pled guilty to one Class X count of felony theft and was sentenced to six years in prison. Boyd was convicted for stealing approximately $135,000 from Harwood Heights over a three-year period when he was employed as the account for the northwest suburban village.

Boyd was one of four defendants charged just last month in the State’s Attorney’s new crackdown called “Operation Cookie Jar,” an ongoing investigative operation targeting public or government employees accused of theft or other financial crimes at the local level.

“If anyone was under the impression that local corruption cases would not be treated seriously in the Cook County legal system, today’s sentencing proves that theory wrong,” Alvarez said.

“As prosecutors we realize that the cost of local corruption puts an additional burden on taxpayers and we are very pleased with this sentence because it sends a strong message that there will be very serious consequences for these types of crimes.”

According to county prosecutors, Boyd began working as the Harwood Heights village accountant in 2005, administering the village payroll on a day-to-day basis. Beginning in 2006, prosecutors charge that Boyd began manipulating the village’s payroll system to inflate his paycheck beyond his approved salary. Last year, Harwood Heights officials became suspicious when numerous checks made out to the village were found uncashed in Boyd’s office. A forensic audit uncovered the thefts and revealed that Boyd had overpaid himself by $135, 281.22.

Boyd appeared in Cook County Circuit Court earlier today where he entered a guilty plea and received the six year prison sentence from Cook County Judge Michael Brown.

The State’s Attorney’s Office encourages anyone with information or tips about suspected local corruption to contact the office via the email tip line at: corruptiontips@cookcountygov.com