East Dundee man found guilty of stealing $8K from former employer in Algonquin

A McHenry County judge ruled Wednesday that an East Dundee man is guilty of fraudulently delivering an $8,000 check to his roommate and having him deposit it but said there was not proof beyond a reasonable doubt that the man personally wrote it out.

Charles Vasseur, 33, who also has a St. Charles address listed in court documents, had his case heard before McHenry County Judge Michael Coppedge in a bench trial on Aug. 15 and 16 rather than a jury.

Vasseur was charged with two counts of forgery and one count of theft of more than $500.

He was found not guilty on one of the forgery charges, which involved making or altering a document but guilty of the other two charges.

Coppedge set the sentencing hearing date for Oct. 20 where Vasseur could be sentenced between two and five years in prison. He also could be sentenced to probation.

Vasseur’s attorney, David Franks, said they are “certainly disappointed” in the verdict but respect the judge’s decision.

Vasseur is accused of stealing a check from the office of his former employer, A OK Chem-Dry in Algonquin, on July 23, 2019, according to documents in the McHenry County courthouse.

He is accused of writing out the check to himself for $8,000 on Sept. 1, 2019, and asking his roommate to deposit it into his bank account, which he did, Coppedge said Wednesday.

His former employer, Timothy Dodaro III of Algonquin, testified during the trial that on Sept. 6, 2019, he received an overdraft alert and notice of possible fraudulent activity from his bank alerting him to the theft, Coppedge said.

In his ruling, Coppedge said there was no evidence presented proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Vasseur filled out the check. He said only circumstantial evidence was presented. No one saw him write it out and his handwriting on other documents was not compared to the check during the investigation, Coppedge said.

But, he said, he believed that Vasseur knew he was asking his roommate to deposit a fraudulent check, and having worked for the company just about six months, Vasseur knew he was not owed $8,000 by his former employer, Coppedge said.

“He knew he was in possession of a check for an amount he was not owed,” Coppedge said.

When Vasseur asked his roommate to deposit the check at a bank ATM, which the roommate did, Vasseur “used an innocent agent to commit the crime,” Coppedge said.

Attempts to reach the A OK Chem-dry for comment were not successful.