By Teresa Auch Schultz
June 17, 2014 6:30PM
Updated: June 18, 2014 2:02AM
Despite continuing to point the finger at a local family of restaurateurs, an Illinois man will serve more than four years in prison for laundering money through a Schererville restaurant he staffed with illegal immigrants.
Michael McClellan’s wife, Tina McClellan, will serve just one day in prison, however, before starting a sentence of a year on home detention for her role in the crime.
U.S. District Judge Philip Simon also ordered both of them to pay restitution of $203,844 to Illinois. Michael McClellan must also pay another $8,830 to Indiana.
The Richton Park, Illinois, couple operated T&M Daycare in Calumet City, Illinois, and received funding from Illinois for watching the children of impoverished families. However, federal attorneys claimed during a jury trial at U.S. District Court in Hammond in November that the McClellans inflated the true number of children they watched. One child they claimed to watch had died.