A former clerk at South Side Public Elementary School has been indicted in an extended federal fraud case involving wrongful ordering of school supplies to provide iPhones, iPads and prepaid gift cards for personal use to school officials. alleged plan to do so.
Ashley Beard, 34, who worked as a business clerk at Caldwell Math and Science Academy at 85th Street and South Craigiere Avenue before resigning in 2019, was charged with wire fraud in a superseding indictment brought in US District Court on Monday. was charged with two counts of
According to the 10-page indictment, Anthony Rasmussen, 47, a sales associate for a suburban vendor who had a contract to supply Chicago public schools with paper, printer toner and other school supplies.
His indictment comes three months after Rasmussen’s coworker at the supply company, Debra Bannack, 62, of Schomberg, was charged with the same alleged scheme. Bannack has pleaded not guilty.
Beard and Rasmussen were the fifth and sixth people to be charged in the ongoing investigation, which also separated former Brenneman Elementary School principal Sarah Jackson Abedelal and two of her associates, who have been charged in a separate indictment.
Court records show Hammond’s beard, and Des Plaines’ Rasmussen are to be indicted on Friday on the impeachment.
Beard’s attorney, Bill Stanton, declined to comment on the allegations. Rasmussen’s lawyer Mikiko Thelwell also did not comment.
A CPS spokesman said Tuesday that an issue involving “potentially fraudulent timekeeping” by Beard was first referred to the district’s legal team in February 2018, and after a review Found “further misconduct”, Beard was scheduled for a disciplinary convention.
Soon thereafter, Beard resigned and admitted wrongdoing in his January 2019 resignation letter, the spokesperson wrote in an emailed statement to the Tribune. “The CPS Law Department then referred the matter to the office of the Inspector General and since then, the investigation has expanded.”
The statement said CPS holds its staff to high standards and that the district’s legal team, if necessary, will refer cases to the inspector general to determine whether the practice can proceed. review and criminal charges. ,
The CPS placed Beard on its Do Not-Hire list after his resignation from 2007 to work for the district in some capacity.
According to the indictment, from 2015 to 2017, the defendants planned to falsify order records to make it appear that legitimate school supplies such as paper, ink and toner were distributed when, instead of purchasing an iPad, worth thousands of dollars. was used. iPhones and gift cards for personal use.
As a result of the plan, Bannack and CPS employees fraudulently misappropriated approximately $75,000 in Chicago public school funds, the indictment alleged.
Brenneman’s former assistant principal, Jennifer McBride, and the school’s former business manager, William Jackson, are also facing charges.
Meanwhile, Abedelal was first indicted in July in a 10-count wire fraud indictment, alleging a separate seven-year plan to get employees to file for overtime they didn’t work and he At least $200,000 returned.
Abedelal was the headmaster of the Buena Park neighborhood school for nearly 12 years until 2019, when the CPS inspector general began an investigation into reports of wrongdoing.
According to the allegations, after Brenneman was visited by investigators in March 2019, McBride instructed Abedelal to “buy a ‘burner’ phone” so that he could hide his communications from the inspector general.
Abedelal pleaded not guilty. Her lawyer, Dena Singer, has previously said in a statement that Abedelal is “a wonderful friend and family to everyone who knows her, and she looks forward to putting this episode behind her.”
Brenneman, in the 4200 block of North Clarendon Avenue, serves just 400 preschoolers through eighth grade students. The school’s motto is, “Where There Are High Standards and Excellence Expectations,” according to its website.
Meanwhile, Caldwell serves about 260 students in the South Chicago neighborhood.
