The former chief executive officer of a Naperville-based adoption agency was sentenced Thursday to prison for embezzling more than $200,000 from that organization and lavishing the money on himself.
Robert G. Geniesse, 52, was sentenced to 4-1/2 years in prison by DuPage County Circuit Court Judge George J. Bakalis. He also was ordered to make $100,000 restitution to Our Children’s Homestead, the agency he helped found almost 20 years ago and then proceeded to bilk.
Geniesse most recently lived in Ormond Beach, Florida, and Germany. He was found guilty last month of charges of theft, personal use of charitable trust funds, wire fraud and forgery, according to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, whose office prosecuted the case.
“While CEO of the charity, Geniesse was found to have used business credit cards for personal expenses in 2009 and 2010,” Madigan said Thursday in a release. “Geniesse charged purchases to the charity, including expensive camera equipment, shopping trips to Neiman Marcus for cosmetics, home goods at Pottery Barn and Ethan Allen, a $600 trip to Binny’s Beverage Depot, and costly restaurant tabs, including a nearly $1,000 tab at Morton’s in Naperville.”
Geniesse also charged “lavish trips” to the agency’s accounts, Madigan said. Those included “an outing to a Minnesota Vikings game, a Chicago Bulls game, over $1,300 at Luxury Link in Los Angeles, and $3,800 in airline tickets overseas.”
“None of the expenses were connected to his role as CEO” of Our Children’s Homestead, Madigan said. Geniesse “betrayed the charitable mission of the organization he led, instead choosing to enrich himself and steal from his group’s donors and the families who rely on its services.”
Our Children’s Homestead has headquarters at 387 Shuman Blvd. on Naperville’s far north side and in Rockford. The 19-year-old agency helps individuals, couples and families adopt young people with special needs.
Bakalis, during Geniesse’s trial, concluded that on Sept. 30 he spent the agency’s money on personal expenses and luxuries. Federal authorities last year said he used some of the funds to finance production of at least one film.
Geniesse had protested he spent the money on agency expenses that included office supplies and furniture. Officials of Our Children’s Homestead fired him in 2011, after discovering the missing money.
A grand jury indictment declared Geniesse twice took $100,000 from the group, between Nov. 1, 2008, and March 31, 2011. Geniesse created “the impression that he was using funds of Our Children’s Homestead for business-related purposes, when he knew he was using funds for personal expenses,” the indictment read in part.
Geniesse disappeared only days before the indictment was returned. His movements were traced to Frankfurt, Germany, where his wife, a German national who also had worked for Our Children’s Homestead, was living.
He unsuccessfully fought extradition to the U.S., and since August 2013, has been in DuPage County Jail in Wheaton.
Kurt Friedenauer, CEO of Our Children’s Homestead, said Thursday by telephone that the sentencing brings a sense of closure to the agency.
“Certainly we respect the judge’s decision in this matter,” Friedenauer said. Bakalis “obviously took a lot of different factors into consideration.”
“The fact is that (Geniesse) was essentially convicted on all counts, and will serve some period of incarceration as a result,” Friedenauer said. “So, at this point, it brings more closure to this matter, and our agency can now move on from this, and continue to provide quality services to the children in our care.”