The Joliet Park District has implemented “updated controls” and internal reporting to ensure an incident where a past finance director stole from the district does not happen again, according to the executive director.

Attorneys for Matt Pehle, 45, of Joliet, and the Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s Office reached an agreement on April 16 where Pehle paid $42,102 in restitution to the park district on the same day and pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.

Almost three years ago, Pehle had been indicted on eight felony charges of continuing a financial crimes enterprise for spending thousands of dollars in purchases on sporting events, entertainment and Airbnb with a credit card issued by the park district.

The indictment alleged one of those expenditures was $332 for tickets to the musical “Hamilton.”

Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English told Shaw Local their detectives determined the “amount involved exceeded” $20,000 but the investigation “did not reveal an exact amount.”

The indictment alleged Pehle’s misuse of the credit cards occurred between Oct. 21, 2016 and Nov. 13, 2019. During that period, Pehle had been serving as the park district’s finance director.

The state’s attorney’s office amended the felony charges to a single misdemeanor theft charge that said Pehle stole an unspecified amount of money from the park district on April 1, 2013.

After Pehle pleaded guilty to the latter offense, he was sentenced to 24 months of conditional discharge. The sentence is similar to probation but does not require Pehle to report to a probation officer.

Brad Staab, the executive director of the park district, had no comment following the resolution of Pehle’s case.

Staab said the park district’s finance department has “implemented updated controls and internal reporting to ensure a similar incident does not happen again.”

In 2020, Pehle had left the park district to work as the chief financial officer for the Forest Preserve District of Will County.

Pehle was put on leave after park officials said they “discovered certain potential financial improprieties by a former employee.”

In 2021, Sue Gulas, the park district board president, told Shaw Local the “suspected impropriety was discovered” because of what park officials described as “personnel and system changes designed to increase transparency and raise professional standards.”

“Changes in procedures is how this got discovered,” Gulas said in 2021.

Gulas said a park official reduced the number of credit cards to one that is controlled by the park district executive director. She said before then, “everybody in administration got credit cards.”

In Pehle’s case, he was represented by attorneys Neil Patel and Chris Regis, the latter of whom once served as the first inspector general for the city of Joliet.