Orland SD 135 Gets Tough With Residency Cheats

Skipping out on the bill is rarely taken lightly, and Orland School District 135 is no less merciful.

Blue Island resident Paul Gutierrez is accused of claiming he lived within the district in order to send his daughter to Orland Junior High School at a cheaper cost. School district representatives said he owes almost $11,000, the amount needed for students living outside the district to attend.

Gutierrez faces a $1,500 fine or up to 30 days in jail if a jury finds him guilty of violating the residency provisions of the Illinois school code, a Class C misdemeanor. His criminal trial is set for Nov. 10 in the Bridgeview courthouse.

In 2007, Gutierrez enrolled his then sixth-grade daughter in Orland Junior High. Two years later, in an effort to fight fraud, the school district asked all parents living on a lease to sign an affidavit promising to pay "retroactive tuition" if they fraudulently enrolled a student who didn't live within district boundaries. Parents also had to present an updated lease.

Gutierrez agreed and showed administrators a lease for a home in the 9200 block of Virginia Court, according to Dennis Soustek, the school district's former superintendent.

However, school officials became suspicious last January after a teacher overheard his daughter discussing her Blue Island home with friends, Soustek said. Administrators found the lease he provided had expired. School officials said Gutierrez then presented a new one from the same Orland Park address.

In May, Orland Park police were investigating a separate matter involving Gutierrez when they found his Blue Island address, Soustek said. The school district then pressed charges against Gutierrez.

"In our opinion, he never resided there and presented fraudulent documents to the district," Orland Park Police Cmdr. John Keating said.

Although Gutierrez's daughter attended OJHS for three years, the school district has asked for tuition reimbursement only for the year they found evidence that he lived in Blue Island.

Gutierrez's former girlfriend, the owner of the Orland Park home, is slated to testify. The woman told police she made the two false leases for Gutierrez, according to a police report filed when Gutierrez was charged.  District 135 Assistant Superintendent for Business Services John Reiniche said charges would not be brought against the woman.

"Nothing she told us leads us to believe that intimidation or threat played a part in falsifying the lease," Keating said, adding that sometimes friends help one another without realizing they're violating the law. "She thinks it was a mistake now. We think the main offender was Mr. Gutierrez, who was benefiting financially."

The school district has hired National Investigators Inc., a private investigating firm, to run a residency check on the students who claim an Orland Park residence.

"Typically, when it's the first time a district does this, between 2 and 5 percent of the population are found to be nonresidents," said Colleen Schultz, District 135 assistant superintendent of student services.

If National Investigators' estimate is found to be the case for District 135, then the school district is not collecting at least $1 million a year in non-resident tuition fees.

For the district to recover the $11,000 it claims Gutierrez owes, school officials would need to sue him in civil court, said Joel DeTella, a lawyer for District 135.

If the school board doesn't object, Reiniche said he would pursue a civil case against Gutierrez after the criminal trial. Board Vice President John Brudnak suggested during the board's Sept. 13 meeting that the school district make an example of Gutierrez.

"When we go after people, we go after them hard," Brudnak said. "If we don't, it's got no teeth—and then it's going to be useless.