Fraud case against former Lincoln-Way leader delayed again

A federal fraud case against a former Lincoln-Way School District 210 superintendent was once again delayed over his unspecified medical issues.

The next status hearing for Lawrence Wyllie was scheduled for Sept. 20, which will mark roughly four years since Wyllie was charged with misappropriating funds from Lincoln-Way for his own benefit and concealing the district’s true financial health from the public.

Wyllie’s attorneys informed federal prosecutors that their client’s “serious and ongoing medical conditions have not changed,” according to a May 28 joint status report.

“While the parties are not yet in a position to determine how this case will proceed, the parties will continue their dialogue about what work remains before they will be in a position to determine how this case will proceed,” the report said.

It’s unclear if Wyllie, who will turn 84 this year, will ever go to trial over the federal charges. Since at least 2018, the federal case has been continually postponed because of Wyllie’s unspecified medical issues.

Joseph Fitzpatrick, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesman, did not answer questions on what was specifically ailing Wyllie and if prosecutors expect this case to go to trial this year or next year.

“Since this case is pending, we cannot comment beyond what it’s in the public court docket on (Public Access to Court Electronic Records),” Fitzpatrick said.

Wyllie’s attorneys, Dan Webb and Sean Wieber, did not respond to a message on Wednesday.

In 2017, Webb said, “We will be going to trial and we expect that a jury will find Mr. Wyllie not guilty of these charges.”

While the case remains pending, Wyllie will continue to receive income from his pension with the Teachers’ Retirement System of the state of Illinois. TRS spokesman Dave Urbanek said Wyllie could lose his pension if convicted of the charges.

Wyllie has received a total of $2.5 million from the TRS since he retired as superintendent of Lincoln-Way in 2013, according to TRS data obtained in a Freedom of Information Act request.

His annual pension income will also continue to increase. In 2013, Wyllie received about $122,385 from the TRS. Last year, it was about $350,397.

In the years after Wyllie retired, Lincoln-Way went through a financial crisis that led to the controversial closing of the 8-year-old Lincoln-Way North High School in 2016.

In 2017, Wyllie was charged with several financial crimes, including using at least $50,000 in school district funds to build and operate the Super Dog Obedience Training program, which prosecutors said provided “no benefit to the four high schools” of Lincoln-Way.

In 2016, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission opened an investigation into Lincoln-Way to determine if any federal securities laws had been violated.

On Feb. 1, 2019, SEC officials sent letters to Wyllie’s attorneys and Perkins Coie, a law firm representing Lincoln-Way, that said their investigation concluded and they did not “intend to recommend an enforcement action by the commission,” according to records obtained in a FOIA request.

While Lincoln-Way officials initially blamed the district’s poor financial health on the Great Recession of 2008 and low state funding, they eventually acknowledged that a “proper system of checks and balances was not in place,” and that Wyllie “took unauthorized action.”