West Cook News

State Sen. John Curran (R-Lemont) is demanding answers in the unfolding theft case involving former Illinois State Police Merit Board Chief Financial Officer Jenny Thornley.

“It's been nearly four weeks since Republican minority leader (Dan) McConchie (R-Lake Zurich) and minority leader (Jim) Durkin (R-Burr Ridge) sent a letter to Gov. Pritzker, the senate president and the speaker of the House, requesting more information about the indictment of Jenny Thornley for stealing state funds through false overtime payments through forgery,” Curran said at an Oct. 26 news conference. “In the letter, we also asked for an explanation of how and why language that essentially required the termination of (merit board) Executive Director (Jack) Garcia was added late to the criminal justice omnibus bill that passed overnight in the January lame duck session. As of today, neither minority leader has received response from the governor's office.”

Thornley was indicted by a grand jury in Sangamon County in September on charges of stealing as much as $100,000 from the merit board, over nearly a two-month period in late 2019 by allegedly forging documents purportedly signed by Garcia.

While a conviction on a theft charge could mean as much as 15-years behind bars, Thornley, 41, also faces four counts of forgery involving overtime approval forms and two counts of official misconduct.

At the same time that Thornley was informed that she was being placed on leave, a letter from merit board ethics officer Daniel Dykstra established that an independent investigation was being launched to probe misconduct claims lodged against Garcia.

Over roughly a three-year period commencing in the early summer of 2017, Thornley made numerous reports and complaints of misconduct to Dykstra related to Garcia, including an accusation that Garcia once groped her breast.

Thornley was placed on administrative leave with pay in February 2020, and officially terminated as chief fiscal officer and director of personnel just over five months later.

“Our questions were legitimate and proper given the nature of the case and the obvious alarming appearance of a retaliatory discharge taking place through the legislative process,” Curran said. “Our questions deserve and require a response. The people of the state of Illinois deserve no less.”

Curran found fault with Pritzker's explanations.

“Gov. Pritzker’s spokesperson has offered that they pursued that last-minute addition to the criminal omnibus bill requiring the termination of merit board executive director Garcia because they doubted that a former Illinois state trooper could be objective in the hiring process,” he said. “Not only is that an insult to all the men and women that have previously worn that uniform it is quite rich coming from an administration that continues to suffer setback after setback."