{"id":13538,"date":"2017-02-28T16:00:03","date_gmt":"2017-02-28T22:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=13538"},"modified":"2017-02-28T16:19:03","modified_gmt":"2017-02-28T22:19:03","slug":"wdcb-closes-book-scam-artist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2017\/02\/28\/wdcb-closes-book-scam-artist\/","title":{"rendered":"WDCB closes the book on scam artist"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

<\/a> John Valenta<\/p><\/div>\n

For WDCB FM 90.9,<\/a> the public radio station licensed to College of DuPage, the long nightmare finally ended Tuesday.<\/p>\n

John Valenta, who was employed as the station\u2019s engineer for 30 years, pleaded guilty in DuPage County Circuit Court to felony theft in connection with what investigators said was a 16-year scheme that bilked the station out of more than $400,000. As part of his plea agreement, Valenta faces a minimum of six years in prison. Sentencing will be May 19.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dan Bindert<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI\u2019m pleased that this chapter in the station\u2019s history is in the past,\u201d Dan Bindert, station manager of WDCB, said in an interview Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m happy that justice has been served.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was Bindert who uncovered Valenta\u2019s massive fraud shortly after Bindert joined<\/a> the public radio\/jazz outlet in October 2013. An examination of Valenta\u2019s excessive overtime hours eventually led Bindert to question the engineer\u2019s exorbitant billing for transmitter parts and other equipment. An investigation found that false invoices were being paid to Broadcast Technologies Inc., a company Valenta secretly owned, and that the equipment he ordered was never installed.<\/p>\n

Valenta\u2019s employment was terminated in February 2014. One year later he was arrested and charged with felony theft. \u201cThe allegations in this case clearly illustrate the concept of simple greed,\u201d DuPage County State\u2019s Attorney Robert Berlin said at the time. \u201cThe defendant had a good job for more than two decades before he allegedly decided to illegally supplement his income at the expense of the College of DuPage.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turned out Valenta had been convicted a few years earlier of a similar scam<\/a> while working as an engineer at another radio station in DuPage County, Elmhurst College\u2019s WRSE FM 88.7.<\/a> In that case, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation and ordered to pay $11,270 in restitution.<\/p>\n

Jury selection for Valenta\u2019s trial was scheduled to begin Tuesday. Instead he entered a guilty plea to one count of felony theft as part of an agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Valenta\u2019s fraud violated the public trust in addition to harming the college,\u201d Ann Rondeau, president of College of DuPage, said in a statement. \u201cNow that he has admitted his guilt, the college will continue its efforts to ensure that he is held fully accountable, including by seeking restitution.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sources said Valenta never had direct access to membership funds or listener donations to the radio station.<\/p>\n

Based in west suburban Glen Ellyn, WDCB bills itself as \u201cChicago\u2019s Home for Jazz.\u201d It also broadcasts from Chicago's West Loop over WRTE FM 90.7.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For WDCB FM 90.9, the public radio station licensed to College of DuPage, the long nightmare finally ended Tuesday. John Valenta, who was employed as the station\u2019s engineer for 30 years, pleaded guilty in DuPage County Circuit Court to felony theft in connection with what investigators said was a 16-year scheme that bilked the station... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13538"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13538"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13544,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13538\/revisions\/13544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}