A former state of Illinois social worker is accused of arranging a scheme to pay fake foster care clients more than $3 million in state funding, some of which the worker received in kickbacks and spent for personal uses, including gambling.
Shauntele Pridgeon, who worked for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as a community social service planner in Chicago, fraudulently approved 14 people to be foster care parents between 2016 and 2022, according to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday in Chicago.
The indictment says Pridgeon, 54, funneled at least $3.2 million in state funds to her 14 co-defendants as supposed payments for childcare services — even though Pridgeon and the clients knew they wouldn’t be caring for foster children.
An investigation was started by the Illinois State Police, and later the FBI, after a DCFS supervisor made a complaint, and Pridgeon was placed on administrative leave in August 2022. Pridgeon was escorted from the agency’s offices after a senior official saw her attempting to throw away documents detailing the names of DCFS childcare providers she had “inactivated” to cover up the fraud, according to court documents.
All 15 defendants, charged with wire fraud, were arrested Wednesday.
Pridgeon got about $1.6 million in bribes and kickbacks from the fake clients, according to prosecutors, who said she spent the money on herself. Her personal expenses included about $2.2 million in gambling losses at a casino in Hammond, Indiana.
Also alleged to have cashed in on the scheme were Latasha Thomas, 48, and Tracey Jervier, 60, both of Chicago. Thomas received more than $1.6 million while Jervier got more than $695,000, according to prosecutors. Ronnie Webb, 57, of South Holland, was paid more than $228,000 in checks made out to “Webb Feet Child Care Inc.,” a “bogus company” with the address listed as Webb’s residence.
The co-defendants would submit monthly “billing certificates” as invoices for childcare, and were sometimes paid with checks from the state totaling nearly $20,000, according to the 48-page, 41-count indictment.
Tahndrea Harper, Nikki Giovanni Houston, Shenita McGary, Sherri Baines, Christina Davis, Aramis Collier and Aunsheree Nelson — all Chicago residents — were also charged in the scheme alongside Joe Sanderson, 49, and Marissa Terry, 36, of Frankfort; Keicha Lacey, 50, of Country Club Hills; and Kelli Payne, 49, of Hammond.
Each defendant faces at least one count of honest services wire fraud, a separate charge from wire fraud defined by its use when the accused were conducting a job for the public. The charges could land each of them in federal prison for up to 20 years.
Several of the defendants were arrested Wednesday, according to court documents.
