Our Children’s Homestead Adoption Agency’s Former CEO Indicted For Embezzling UPDATED

Robert Geniesse, 51, is the former CEO of Our Children’s Homestead agency in Naperville, Illinois.  This agency specializes in special needs foster care and adoptive placements. He fled to Germany after a 2012 Grand Jury indictment for embezzling $200,000. He is currently being held in  DuPage County Jail in lieu of $2 million bail. [I guess he is STUCK now.]

“He was returned late last week from Germany, where officials say he had fled days before he was charged with stealing $200,000 from his agency, which helps children with special needs. Officials said he used the money to fund a film production venture.

German authorities remanded Geniesse to federal agents Thursday, and he was flown back to the U.S. He appeared Friday in DuPage County bond court, Maura Possley, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Lisa Madigan, said Tuesday.

Charges against Geniesse include theft over $100,000, forgery, wire fraud and using charitable trust funds for personal gain, according to court records. He is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday.

Federal and state authorities had been searching for the former executive since Oct. 20, when they believe Geniesse fled the U.S. for Germany. A grand jury indicted him five days later on charges of misappropriating $200,000 to finance a film company that produced two short films dealing with adoption issues.

Our Children’s Homestead, the agency Geniesse helped found in the mid-1990s, arranges foster care and adoptions for children with special needs. The agency fired Geniesse in 2011, when it became aware of possible financial impropriety, according to court files. Police were alerted to the situation.

In 2012 court documents, federal investigators said Geniesse left his home in Florida last October and traveled to Frankfurt, Germany, to meet his wife, a German national who also had worked at the social service agency. She had left the U.S. the previous month, officials said.

He was taken into custody Feb. 13 in Kiel, Germany, Possley said. Geniesse tried to fight extradition but lost. He was flown to O’Hare and turned over to investigators from the attorney general’s office, she said.

Before he fled to Germany, Geniesse had most recently been a resident of Ormond Beach, Fla., according to the FBI.”

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update: “The former chief executive officer of a Naperville-based adoption agency who authorities said has been on the run since October has been extradited from Germany to Illinois, where he is accused in a $200,000 embezzlement.

Fugitive back, awaiting trial in Naperville embezzlement case

[The Naperville Sun 8/28/13 by Bill Bird]

Update 2:“The former head of a Naperville adoption agency was found guilty of theft Tuesday after prosecutors say he stole more than $200,000 from the agency for his personal benefit.

DuPage County Judge George Bakalis ruled that Robert Geniesse was guilty of theft over $100,000, forgery and wire fraud in connection to actions he committed while he ran the Our Children’s Homestead adoption agency.

Bakalis’ finding of guilt capped a bench trial that had taken place periodically in his courtroom over the last several weeks.

n his 19-page ruling, the judge said Geniesse spent agency money on extravagances and personal expenses. Geniesse’s explanation that the many items he purchased were business related did not convince the judge.

“To believe defendant’s explanations for many of these charges one would have to believe that he was the greatest micro-manager in corporate history, buying everything from huge furniture purchases to toilet paper for the offices,” Bakalis wrote.

Among some of the purchases were tickets to pro-sports events and a trip to the Sundance Film Festival. Geniesse was also accused of diverting agency money to a film production company he started, and to his wife, who worked for the company, and her sister, who is a German citizen.

Geniesse, 52, was fired from Our Children’s Homestead in 2011 and he left the U.S. in 2012, just days before he was charged with embezzling. He flew to Germany to be with his wife, authorities said, but was later extradited to America to face charges.

Our Children’s Homestead was founded in 1995 with a mission to provide foster care and adoption services to children with special needs like behavioral or mental health issues.

Several agency employees were on hand for the verdict, including CEO Kurt Friedenauer.

“Certainly the actions of Mr. Geniesse damaged the agency, but because of the professionalism of the board of directors and staff we were able to stay true to our goal of providing services for foster children,” he said.

Bakalis set Oct. 23 for Geniesse’s sentencing. He has been held in the DuPage County jail since his return from Germany.”

Man guilty of stealing cash from Naperville adoption agency [Chicago Tribune 9/30/14 by Clifford Ward]

Update 3:”Robert Geniesse stood in a DuPage County courtroom Thursday describing how he founded an adoption agency that started out in his basement and helped find homes for special needs children.

But now, Geniesse said, he was “absolutely sickened” by what will likely be his legacy — a prison sentence for embezzling what authorities said was hundreds of thousands of dollars from that same adoption agency.

The former Naperville resident was sentenced to a 41/2 -year term for theft and other crimes against Our Children’s Homestead, the social service agency he helped found and where he was chief executive officer before his arrest.

Geniesse, 52, had been convicted of using agency funds to funnel money to his wife and to pay for lavish personal expenses and travel. Included in the allegations was a charge that Geniesse spent thousands to finance a short film about adoption.

“I was an over-ambitious, impulsive CEO,” said Geniesse, adding that he shirked his fiduciary responsibility

Although the totals cited in court files was closer to $200,000, Illinois Assistant Attorney General Edward Snow said Geniesse misspent $900,000 of the agency’s money, and he asked Judge George Bakalis to order restitution in that amount to Our Children’s Homestead.

“Mr. Geniesse almost put them out of business. That would have been a huge loss to the community,” said Snow who asked the judge to impose a 12-year prison sentence.

Bakalis, however, said 12 years was too long, given Geniesse’s prior spotless criminal record. But the judge, who ordered $100,000 in restitution, said some prison time was necessary.

“We have to send a message that if you’re going to steal from a charitable organization … there’s a penalty that has to be paid,” Bakalis said.

Geniesse was fired from the agency after the financial issues came to light, and he left the country days before he was indicted in 2012. He was later extradited from Germany, where his wife and their young daughter live.

He had been held in the DuPage County Jail since October 2013, when he was returned to the U.S. With available credits, Geniesse will probably serve about one year in prison.

Geniesse’s attorney, Joseph Solon, said his client was an excellent candidate for probation.

“He’s guilty of something we’re all guilty of, and that’s human frailty,” Solon argued.

Ex-CEO of adoption agency ‘sickened’ by crime[Chicago Tribune 10/23/14 by Clifford Ward]