BENTON, Ill. – A woman who worked as a business manager for a pair of Belleville-area schools pleaded guilty Wednesday to bank fraud in federal court.
Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois said Michelle Miller took nearly $154,000 in funds she was not entitled to from St. Teresa’s and St. Luke’s.
Miller, 45, admitted in court to writing checks from the schools’ accounts to herself, making excess salary payments to herself, and using school checks for petty cash and pocketing the money.
According to court documents, Miller would forge signatures and manipulate the parish’s bookkeeping software to conceal her fraud.
Miller will be sentenced on Feb. 16, 2023. She faces up to 30 years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.