Cook County School Supt. Arrested for Theft

By Prescott Carlson in News on Jan 15, 2010 10:45PM

The Suburban Cook County Regional Office of Education superintendent was arrested yesterday and his bond was set at $100,000 this morning after prosecutors say Flowers dipped his hand into the office's cookie jar to the tune of $376,000, a third of the office's current $1 million debt. He's been charged with felony theft and official misconduct.

State's Attorney Anita Alvarez says Flowers "siphoned" the taxpayer dollars to put his girlfriend and sister on the payroll, and also gave them each a $15,000 salary advance. Alvarez also says he used a credit card issued by the office to buy various personal items such as plane tickets, expensive meals, and limousine rides. Flowers' attorney Tim Grace says his client indeed get "a little sloppy with the credit cards," but that he paid back any charges.

The arrest should come as little surprise -- a state audit in June of last year showed that Flowers may have misused county funds, and police raided his home a few weeks later on July 1. That action caused the Cook County Board to pass a resolution asking that the regional office be eliminated, and a lawsuit was filed to get payment for a $190,000 loan the county made to the office. The office was closed until further notice last November.