Days after two Chicago Public School teachers were arrested and charged with stealing public money, Cook County prosecutors today announced criminal charges against five others accused of similar crimes.

The charges are part of an expanding public corruption probe nicknamed “Operation Cookie Jar.”

In addition to charges leveled again teachers Mark Gruntzel and Edmund Jones last week, prosecutors also charged five others ranging from private business owners to public administrators.

Jerome Latos, 54, and John Syarto, 33, seasonal plow and salt truck drivers for the Illinois Department of Transportation, were each charged with official misconduct and theft of government property, according to a news release from the state’s attorney’s office.

Latos, of Tinley Park, and Syarto, of Oak Forest, are accused of using six tons of government-owned street salt on private property of a Palos Hills business owner. That owner, Robert Jennings, of Burbank, was charged with theft of government property for knowingly accepting the street salt, authorities said.

Two others were also charged stealing government property. Jeffery Flinchum, 25, of Brookfield, a former motor vehicle parts manager for the county highway department, is accused of using government money to buy numerous parts for his personal vehicle. He also faces an official misconduct charge.

Also, Azalea Plump, 36, of Chicago, a former employee for the University of Illinois at Chicago’s department of women and family nursing, fraudulently received about $72,711 in overtime she never earned, the state’s attorney’s office said.
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