U.S. DISTRICT COURT, SOUTHERN DISTRICT OF ILLINOIS - Tammy L. Kellerman, 53, of Pinckneyville, Illinois, the former bookkeeper for the Pinckneyville Rural Fire Protection District (PRFPD), was sentenced today in United States District Court in Benton to 33 months in prison for defrauding the tax-payer funded municipal entity of over $444,000.00, announced James L. Porter, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois.
Kellerman had previously pled guilty on February 2 to an Information charging her with four counts of mail fraud.
Information introduced in support of the guilty pleas and sentence showed that between 2004 and 2013, Kellerman used her trusted position with PRFPD to steal funds from PRFPD by sending unauthorized checks drawn on PRFPD’s bank account through the United States mail to pay her personal credit card bills and other expenses and, thereafter, made false entries in PRFPD’s accounting software to conceal her theft from the board.
In addition to the 33 month term in prison, Kellerman was ordered to pay the United States $400 in special assessments and to pay a total of $441,390.32 in restitution (consisting of $406,640.32 to PRFPD and $34,750 to its insurer). Kellerman was also placed on a 3 year term of supervised release to follow her time in prison.