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Defendant Allegedly Used Funds to Purchase Supplies for "Booze Cruise"

An employee in the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services has been indicted for stealing public funds and using the money to buy supplies for a “booze cruise” bus trip she was organizing for friends and co-workers, according to the Office of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

Karen Huff, 50, of Chicago, was indicted today on charges of Official Misconduct, Forgery and Attempted Theft.  Huff works as a Project Coordinator at the City of Chicago’s Chatham Senior Citizen Satellite Center.

The indictment announced by prosecutors today alleges that Huff forged two of her supervisor’s signatures on a material service request form to fraudulently obtain funds to purchase party trays from a local food store to serve on a “booze cruise” bus trip that she was organizing. The scheme was uncovered when the store forwarded the invoice to Huff’s supervisor and the supervisor realized that the signature used to obtain the funds had been forged.

A check of the defendant’s work computer recovered a flyer advertising the “booze cruise” and investigators confirmed that food similar to what was purchased had in fact been served on the bus trip.

Huff appeared in Cook County Court today and pled not guilty.  Bond for Huff was set at $100,000 I and the case was continued to November 18.