Naperville man gets 5 years for stealing $450K from Islamic school

A Naperville man was sentenced Thursday to five years in prison for stealing $450,000 from a west suburban mosque and school where he worked.

Inam Rahim, 61, had pleaded guilty in March to theft of more than $100,000 — a felony.

He’ll have to serve half his prison term before being eligible for parole, according to the DuPage County state’s attorney office.

Rahim started working in 199 as director of business and finance for the Islamic Foundation, a Villa Park religious organization that includes a mosque and a school, prosecutors said.

They said that from January 2009 through July 2011, he embezzled about $450,000. Rahim added his wife to the foundation’s payroll, inflated his own $69,500-a-year salary and issued unauthorized checks to Yoomna’s Boutique in Naperville, a company made up of himself and his wife, then falsified accounting records in an effort to hide the unauthoritized payments.

In July 2011, the foundation uncovered discrepancies during a payroll review conducted after his termination for unrelated reasons and went to the police.

“Week after week, Mr. Rahim systematically defrauded and betrayed the trust of a religious and educational organization that made the mistake of trusting him with its finances,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert B. Berlin said.

Rahim will begin serving his sentence immediately and also esd ordered to pay back the money to the Islamic Foundation.