A special prosecutor this week filed felony charges against an employee of the Will County state’s attorney’s office and her daughter for alleged computer tampering, court records show.

Special prosecutor Dave Neal filed the charges against Amy Burgett-Masse, 44, and Ryanne Burgett-Masse, 20, of Elwood, for computer tampering and aggravated computer tampering.

Amy Burgett-Masse, an employee of the state’s attorney’s office, was also charged with two counts of official misconduct, both felonies, for knowingly using her position “with the intent to obstruct, impede, or prevent the investigation, apprehension, or prosecution of (a) criminal offense or person,” the charges state.

The computer tampering incidents allegedly took place between Sept. 20, 2024 to May 6, according to court documents.

While working on an unrelated case on April 28, Will County sheriff’s detectives learned information that suggested a state’s attorney’s office employee may have accessed and unlawfully shared confidential information with a known gang member, sheriff’s spokesman Kevin Hedemark said in an email.

The detectives collaborated with the state’s attorney’s office to identify the employee and started an investigation, Hedemark said. The case findings were submitted to the special prosecutor July 22, he said.

“Given the potential impact on active cases, state and local authorities were notified of the investigation,” he said.

Charges were filed Monday and the two women are scheduled to appear before Judge Derek Ewanic on Friday.

The felony aggravated computer tampering counts states the defendants accessed the state’s attorney’s office’s computer network and removed data from the network. As a result, this created a “strong probability of death or great bodily harm to one or more individuals … identified as witnesses” in Will County criminal investigations, according to court documents.

A second aggravated computer tampering charge alleges that the defendants caused a disruption and interfered with the operations of the Will County state’s attorney’s office, according to court documents.

Michelle Mullins is a freelance reporter.

 

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/10/10/will-county-states-attorney-employee-charged/