Arthur M. Corrigan, already in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from a plastics brokerage firm in which he was a partner, was convicted Thursday of theft charges stemming from a home building firm he operated while awaiting sentencing in the first case.
Corrigan, 40, of Elburn, was found guilty of one count of theft by Kane County Circuit Judge Barry Puklin.
He was accused of stealing $3,000 from John and Jennifer Sheldon, who had employed Corrigan’s Signature Homes Inc. to contract and build a 5,000-square-foot home in St. Charles. The money was to have gone toward buying doors and trim for the $280,000 home that Corrigan promised but did not deliver.
In October 1993, DuPage County Judge John Nelligan sentenced Corrigan to 6 years in prison and ordered him to make $986,000 in restitution to Dancor International Ltd., a now-bankrupt firm that was located at different times in Westchester and Hinsdale. Civil suits are still pending, said Owen Frawley, whose family co-owned the ill-fated business.
Corrigan had been convicted earlier that year of stealing $212,000 from the plastics firm. Prosecutors submitted evidence during sentencing hearings that indicated Corrigan actually stole $992,000 over about a six-year period.
It was during the months after he was convicted that Corrigan was free on bond and awaiting sentencing that the Sheldons, unaware of his legal track record, contracted with Corrigan’s Elburn-based home building firm.
Corrigan’s attorney, Jack Donahue, argued that the case belonged in civil court and that if anyone was responsible, it was the company and not Corrigan individually.
But Puklin agreed with prosecutor Thomas Stanfa, who said that Corrigan had purposely misled the Sheldons by indicating that he had bought the materials with his own funds and had them stored in his basement. The Class 3 offense carries a sentence of 2 to 5 years in prison.
Material was delivered after Corrigan received the $3,000 payment. But the Sheldons were alerted to a problem when the lumber company that supplied the doors and trim later retrieved them for lack of payment.
The money was deposited in a Signature Homes account, but it remains unclear what happened to it. The company has since dissolved.
John and Jennifer Sheldon, who lived in Arlington Heights, put their dream home in Corrigan’s hands.
But the dream turned into a nightmare when Kane County red-tagged the house because officials deemed the second floor unsafe. Jennifer Sheldon said the home still lacks some finishing touches.
