EAST ST. LOUIS — A former official of the charitable group Name for Assist Inc. pleaded responsible Thursday to stealing 1000’s of {dollars} from the group, based on the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace, Southern District of Illinois.
Kenesha Burlison, 40, of St. Louis, is scheduled to be sentenced on Might 26.
Burlison pleaded responsible to theft from a corporation receiving federal funds and aggravated identification theft.
Courtroom information stated she fraudulently obtained a cashier’s verify from Name for Assist for practically $70,000 to make a downpayment on a home. She instructed the group she wanted the verify for the title firm and could not get one from her financial institution as a result of it was closed.
Burlison gave Name for Assist a private verify for $70,000 in trade for the cashier’s verify. That verify and others she supplied within the coming months bounced due to inadequate funds, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace stated.
After her termination from Name for Assist, the place she had began working in 2016 as director of human relations, the group “found that Burlison had additionally fraudulently submitted requests for reimbursements that she was not entitled to from the group that exceeded $100,000. These reimbursements have been paid to Burlison,” a press launch from U.S. Legal professional Steven D. Weinhoeft’s workplace stated.
Courtroom paperwork stated Burlison, in connection along with her mortgage utility, submitted fraudulent earnings verification with a solid signature of the director of high quality assurance at Name for Assist.
Name For Assistance is a charitable group based mostly in East St. Louis that “helps folks overcome quite a lot of private crises, starting from sexual assault and poverty to homelessness and psychological well being points,” the discharge states.
“Federal costs carrying a compulsory minimal jail sentence have been acceptable right here as a result of the defendant stole a lot cash that may have supplied wanted companies to weak victims, together with sexual assault survivors and the homeless,” Weinhoeft stated within the launch.
The theft cost carries a most 10-year jail sentence and a positive of as much as $250,000. Burlison additionally faces a compulsory two-year jail sentence for aggravated identification theft.
A federal district courtroom choose will decide Burlison’s sentence after contemplating sentencing tips and different elements.
