Former Employee Sentenced for Theft

A former DU-COMM (Ill.) comm center employee was sentenced Wednesday to 365 days on a work-release program after he pleaded guilty to theft charges. Shaun Lang, 28, entered the plea last April after being accused of stealing over $150,000 in comm center funds by creating a fictitious company and issuing agency invoices. As the center’s computer systems manager, he was also accused of buying personal items using the comm center’s credit card. The thefts occurred over a 30-month period from 2003 to 2005, prosecutors said. Prosecutors had asked for a 7-year prison sentence. Lang’s sentence includes restitution for the money that was taken. Lang’s had argued that Lang was facing financial problems related to his mother’s cancer death and wife’s high-risk pregnancy. But prosecutors alleged Lang spent the money on clothing, electronics, food, alcohol, pet supplies, along with $5,000 spent on pornographic DVDs.