Business owner accused of stealing almost $2 million from relative allowed access to funds to pay lawyer

A former McHenry County resident and former business owner who authorities allege stole more than $1.8 million from an elderly relative in Cary was granted access Monday to just enough funds to pay for an attorney.

Douglas R. Boncosky, 54, of Barrington, has been charged with two Class X felonies of aggravated identity theft against a person older than 60, as well as theft of more than $1 million, McHenry County court records show.

He was also charged with financial exploitation of a person over 60 years old and forgery, according to the court documents.

Prosecutors filed a motion asking that Boncosky’s assets be frozen up to $1.8 million, about the amount in which he is accused of stealing. Defense attorney Matthew Haiduk asked that Boncosky, who was denied representation by the public defender’s office, have access to enough funds to cover his private attorney’s fees.

In response, McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis entered an agreed order that Boncosky’s PNC bank account be used solely to pay his attorney fees. Accounts in Boncosky’s name at Chase and Bank of America are “frozen until further order of the court,” Davis wrote.

Boncosky also filed a handwritten notice of appeal regarding a judge’s order entered Oct. 31, the day after his arrest, to keep him detained pretrial in the McHenry County jail.

Boncosky’s detention, under the new SAFE-T Act, asserts he is a flight risk and a real and present threat to any one person or the community, according to court documents. However, Boncosky argued in his motion that the state failed to prove that with clear and convincing evidence.

He wrote that he “has strong and deep family ties to the community.”

He also wrote that information presented to the court stating he had plans to leave the state and move to Florida “pre-existed his arrest and as of the detention hearing he had no plans to flee the jurisdiction.”

He also cited an email that was presented during the detention hearing “was taken out of context” and that he had “taken no steps to change his name and he was seeking employment under his given name.”

Authorities allege that approximately $1.9 million was stolen from Boncosky’s family member through wire transfers and fraudulent checks, on which he is accused of forging her name, court records show.

Boncosky is due back in court Dec. 20.

Boncosky, who wrote in an affidavit that he was unemployed, was CEO and founder of America’s Bath Company, a remodeling firm based in Lake Barrington, from 2016 until October, according to his Linkedin profile.