Latest news with #Schippert
Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Yahoo
Judge ruling on whether to bar gambling evidence at Watseka woman's trial
KANKAKEE, Ill. (WCIA) — A Kankakee County judge is anticipated to make a decision in less than two months on whether to bar a jury from hearing evidence in a former Iroquois County Health Administrator's gambling trial. WCIA's partners with the Ford County Chronicle reported that Dee Ann Schippert, 57 of Watseka, is charged with 33 felonies, including eight counts of theft of government property by deception, eight counts of forgery and 17 counts of official misconduct. Schippert appeared in a Kankakee courtroom for a pretrial hearing on Tuesday with her Springfield attorneys Mark Wykoff Sr. and Daniel Fultz. Taylorville teens nearly derail train hauling hazardous materials by putting plates on tracks In December, two motions were filed in limine by her attorneys, including one seeking a judge's order to prohibit evidence and testimony related to her gambling, arguing it's 'irrelevant.' In a response to this motion, Assistant Illinois Attorney General Haley Bookhout, who is prosecuting the case with Assistant Attorney General Mara Somlo, argued otherwise. Bookhout said that this will show that over a 20-month span during the COVID-19 pandemic, Schippert spent at least 759 hours at a Watseka gambling establishment while she claimed she was working. This turned out to be an average of almost 38 hours per month. According to online court records, William Dickenson, Kankakee County Judge, who was reassigned this case after it was filed in Iroquois County Circuit Court in 2024 due to the recusal of two Iroquois County judges, heard arguments from both sides during the March 18 hearing before taking the matter under advisement. The case was then continued to 1:30 p.m. on May 5 for a decision on the motion. The second motion in limine filed by Schippert's attorneys, which aims to bar prosectors from introducing evidence or testimony at trial indicating that she does not support the 'LGBTQIA+ agenda,' was granted with no objection from prosecutors. Additionally, both sides were advised by the judge to 'obtain leave from court' if cross-examination may involve such testimony or evidence. The charges filed against Schippert last March allege Schippert stole more than $100,000 from the health department between May 31, 2020, and July 15, 2022, by submitting fraudulent timesheets claiming hours she did not work, including overtime and backpay she never earned. Springfield Clinic to lay off staff, cites 'financial challenges' She also allegedly made 'false representations' to the board of health to obtain its approval to receive pay for 179 hours of overtime and fraudulently used funds from a grant for COVID-19 contact tracing to pay for her overtime. On top of this, Schippert allegedly committed 'whistleblower retaliation' through the act of firing an employee on June 15, 2022, after the staffer tipped off authorities to her conduct. Prosecutors said they plan to present time-stamped video recordings from Winnie's Gaming Café at 1004 E Walnut St. in Watseka as evidence, plus witness testimony from county employees who said they often would see her vehicle parked there on weekdays during normal business hours. Additionally, other evidence includes Schippert's cellphone and office call logs and her remote-access log-in information from her work laptop. 'The People intend to present evidence from both witnesses as well as documentary records reviewed during the investigation to demonstrate that the Defendant was not only not working her required 40 hours per week [but] was also falsifying her overtime hours in order to receive overtime pay,' Bookhout wrote on Jan. 24. 'Evidence of her hours spent at Winnie's, coupled with other evidence obtained, is both highly relevant and necessary to the People's case in-chief.' Schippert currently remains free from custody on pretrial conditions. More information on the trial can be found on the Ford County Chronicle's website. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
05-02-2025
- Yahoo
Past Iroquois Co. health admin caught gambling on video amidst false timesheets case, prosecutors say
KANKAKEE, Ill. (WCIA) — New court documents are shedding light on the criminal actions that Dee Ann Schippert, the former Administrator of the Iroquois County Public Health District, allegedly committed while she was employed during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. WCIA's partners at the Ford County Chronicle reported that Haley Bookhout, Assistant Attorney General of Illinois, laid out the state's evidence against Schippert in a 10-page response to a motion filed by her attorneys. Schippert was charged last March with 33 felony counts that included theft of government property, forgery and official misconduct. She pleaded not guilty. Past Iroquois Co. health admin due back in court December after pleading not guilty to falsifying timesheets Bookhout alleges that between May 31, 2020, and July 15, 2022, Schippert filed fraudulent timesheets claiming both regular and overtime hours she did not work. While Schippert told ICPHD staff that she worked daily from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m., Bookhout said her personal cell phone and office phone call logs challenge that claim, and there is both video evidence and witness testimony that shows what she was actually doing during the workday. Bookhout said time-stamped video footage showed Schippert at two Watseka gaming parlors for at least 759 hours, an average of 38 per month. That included 260 hours during regular business hours when she was supposed to be on the job and a further 200 hours after normal business hours. During the same time period, Schippert claimed over 1,300 hours of overtime, including hours on weekends that were spent at the parlors. Schippert claimed on her timesheets that she worked more than 1,800 hours of overtime and worked her standard 40 hours per week. Bookhout noted that while Schippert's employment agreement did not specify her daily work schedule, it did specify she work at least 40 hours per week. The evidence, Bookhout said, shows she didn't. The evidence also included accounts from ICPHD employees who reported seeing Schippert's car in the parking lots of the gambling parlors during normal business hours. In June of 2022, Schippert allegedly fired one of them for coming forward and reporting her behavior to law enforcement. County board member wants accountability amidst investigation 'The People are not offering evidence of the defendant video gaming to inflame the prejudices of the jury, but instead to show what the defendant was doing with her time while she claimed to be working,' Bookhout said in her written response to Schippert's attorneys' motion. 'The People intend to present evidence from both witnesses as well as documentary records reviewed during the investigation to demonstrate that the defendant was not only not working her required 40 hours per week, [but] was also falsifying her overtime hours in order to receive overtime pay.' Schippert resigned as the ICPHD administrator more than a year before charges were filed. Schippert remains out of custody on pretrial conditions and is scheduled to be back in court on March 18. The Chronicle reported that the case's venue has been moved to Kankakee County after two Iroquois County judges recused themselves from the case last year. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
