PEORIA - A federal jury on Monday convicted a former high-ranking Illinois Secretary of State official of helping three janitors pocket more than $150,000 in state pay for work they didn't do.

The jury of seven women and five men deliberated about three hours after hearing five days of testimony during Cecil Turner's trial in federal court in Peoria.

Turner, 59, of Springfield showed no emotion as the verdicts were read, but was later led shaking from the courtroom by family and friends. His wife, Doris, a Sangamon County Board member, leaned forward with her head in her hands.

The former director of the secretary of state's physical services division was charged with four counts of federal wire fraud for allegedly helping the janitors hide the scheme, along with two counts of lying to investigators.

Defense attorney Michael Metnick said he was terribly disappointed by the verdicts. Saying only jurors knew for sure, he wondered whether the high-profile corruption conviction of former Gov. George Ryan may have factored into their decision.

"The mood in the times we're living in right now makes it tough for one defending themselves in this kind of case," Metnick said outside court.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Chesley said he hoped Turner's conviction would help weed out corruption in state government.

"Anytime you have a public official who's allowing tax dollars to be misspent or abused and you get a conviction, hopefully the next person who comes along will think twice about doing something like that," Chesley told reporters.

Turner, who remains free on a personal recognizance bond, will be sentenced Jan. 4. He faces up to 20 years in prison on each wire fraud count and up to five years in prison on each count of lying to investigators.

Federal prosecutors alleged Turner helped the janitors pocket unearned state pay in exchange for special treatment by city trash collectors in his Springfield neighborhood.

Turner received no financial kickbacks, but aided in the scheme because one of the janitors - Dana Dinora - also worked for Springfield's public works department. He allegedly arranged quick pickups of junk ranging from water heaters to a dog house for Turner and his neighbors, Chesley said.

"The defendant was arrogant. He didn't think he would get caught and it wasn't his money," Assistant U.S. Attorney Gregory Gilmor said in closing arguments.

Metnick had said Turner was unaware of the alleged payroll scam he maintains was orchestrated by Dinora, one of three former janitors who pleaded guilty in the scheme and agreed to cooperate in the case against Turner.

Metnick called Dinora a con man with a long record of abusing time off who manipulated Turner after he was appointed to the $98,000 a year job in 1999. The attorney said Dinora took advantage of Turner because he was inexperienced when he was appointed to the job by Secretary of State Jesse White.

Turner did not testify in his defense.

Metnick told jurors special trash pickups in Turner's neighborhood were arranged by another city employee, not Dinora, and are common for people with political connections. Turner is vice chairman of the Sangamon County Democratic Party and his wife a Sangamon County Board member.

Turner and the janitors were fired after an investigation uncovered the scheme last year. Turner was among 20 department heads in the secretary of state's office, overseeing maintenance and janitorial services in state offices, including the Capitol building.

Dave Druker, spokesman for Jesse White's re-election campaign, said the conviction underscores how much White has changed the secretary of state's office since Ryan's days.

"If you look at our predecessor, his inspector general went to jail. This inspector general puts people in jail," Druker said. "We take very seriously our responsibility in this office."

But White's Republican opponent, state Sen. Dan Rutherford, called Turner's conviction another example of a federal court "saying that Illinois' secretary of state's office must be cleaned up."

Rutherford alleged White set the stage for the scam when his office hired Turner despite knowing of his 1976 conviction in a scheme in which veterans' benefit checks were stolen from the postal service.

"I think we have to (question) the sense of judgment of leadership who hires a man and let's him run unfettered to run such a scam," Rutherford said.

He also alleged that White aided the scheme six years ago through moves within the office that he says made doling out jobs, not weeding out corruption, a priority.

White's inspector general, Jim Burns, on Monday night called the idea of a state agency completely free of corrupt employees a "fantasy land."

"You can't have a statewide office of 4,000 and have that kind of utopia," Burns said, adding that the focus should be on the mechanisms White's office has put in place to ferret out corruption.

Associated Press Writers Christopher Wills in Springfield and Sarah Ryan Rafi in Chicago contributed to this report.