BENTON, IL — This is an official press release from the U.S. Department of Justice (USAO - Illinois, Southern), published as received.
BENTON, IL – A resident of Freeburg, Illinois, pled guilty today to committing bank fraud in
connection with her former employer.
According to court documents, Michelle Miller, 45, worked as a business manager for two Belleville
area schools, St. Teresa’s and St. Luke’s. When she pled guilty, Miller admitted using her
position to commit fraud: she wrote checks from the schools’ accounts to herself, she made excess
salary payments to herself, and she wrote checks to petty cash and pocketed the money. To conceal
this fraud, Miller at times forged the signature of the priest of St. Teresa’s and St. Luke’s. She
also manipulated the parish’s QuickBook accounts to make it look like St. Luke’s was paying money
to St. Teresa’s when the money was actually going to her. And she made false and misleading
adjustments to her own compensation in the payroll system. In all, Miller took a total of
$153,940.38 from St. Teresa’s and St. Luke’s that she was not entitled to receive.
“Nonprofit organizations like St. Teresa’s and St. Luke’s provide vital services to our
communities’ children and families,” said U.S. Attorney Rachelle Aud Crowe. “Criminal behavior
targeting such organizations is unconscionable and even more so when it comes from within. Those
who perpetrate it will be held to account.”
Miller’s offense carries a maximum sentence of thirty years’ imprisonment and a fine of up to
$250,000. Miller’s sentencing is set for February 16, 2023, at 10:00am at the federal courthouse in
Benton, Illinois.
The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and the Belleville Police Department.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Peter T. Reed.
