This Illinois college continued to employ a convicted thief that stole from another local college.

Jodi S. Cohen of the Chicago Tribune reported.

College of DuPage employed radio engineer despite theft conviction

The College of DuPage continued to employ the engineer at its campus radio station — and continued to pay bills submitted by his private company — for nearly two years after he was convicted of a felony for using that same business to steal from another local college.

The situation raises questions about financial oversight at the taxpayer-funded community college, where the ethics code bars employees from participating in business transactions from which they personally profit, and about whether school officials heeded warnings about engineer John Valenta’s business dealings after his March 2011 arrest.

Now DuPage County prosecutors are presenting evidence to a grand jury, according to court records. As that investigation has moved forward, prosecutors and College of DuPage officials have tried to keep the case secret from the public. Prosecutors even went so far as to obtain a sealed court order to prevent the Tribune from obtaining information about Valenta’s employment and business dealings with the school.

Valenta, who left the college in February, has not been charged with a crime in connection with his activities at the College of DuPage. He referred questions to his attorney, Brad Telander, who did not return calls.

Over the past decade, the college radio station paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to Valenta’s company, Broadcast Technologies, for equipment and repairs, according to documents. The college acknowledged that those purchases violated the school’s ethics code.

College spokesman Joseph Moore said officials “uncovered a possible case of fraud” by a WDCB-FM 90.9 employee in December 2013 and reported it to law enforcement officials. Moore said no one at the college acknowledged knowing of Valenta’s arrest or conviction for theft at nearby Elmhurst College. However, Elmhurst’s security director told the Tribune that his department notified a College of DuPage police detective after Valenta’s arrest.