Lake County employee fired and arrested for stealing gasoline

A Lake County employee admitted using a county gasoline pump to fuel vehicles owned by his girlfriend, parents and friends since his days as an intern after being caught at the pump in a non-county vehicle.

About 10 a.m. on May 2, a Lake County sheriff’s deputy went to fill up at the fuel terminal on Winchester Road in Libertyville and saw an unknown vehicle pulling away, a statement from the sheriff’s office said.

The deputy stopped the vehicle and the driver was identified as Dwayne T. Keener, 21, of the 1300 block of Lorelei Drive in Zion, police said.

He “identified himself as an employee of the Lake County Department of Public Works,” but “it was determined that the vehicle being driven by Keener was not a Lake County vehicle and was not authorized to use fuel from the DOT fuel station,” the police statement said.

Keener admitted he used a Public Works fuel key and another employee’s pass code to put gas into his girlfriend’s car, police said.

Police also “determined that Keener has been stealing fuel from the DOT fuel station from October 2014 … when he was an intern with the DPW,” police said.

He later “admitted to using the codes of several different employees to fuel vehicles belonging to his girlfriend, his parents and another friend from October 2014 to May 2,” police said.

He had been hired full-time in March 2 but was terminated May 4 after his arrest.

An arrest warrant was issued on May 8 charging felony theft of government property. Keener surrendered Wednesday afternoon and is being held in the Lake County Jail on a $50,000 bond set in the warrant. He will appear in bond court Thursday.

Police said further charges are possible pending results of an audit by the Lake County Department of Transportation.