Health dept. talks about felony charge

PARIS, Illinois (WTHI) – A former health department employee is accused of stealing money.
The Edgar County Health Department fired their book keeper after noticing some missing funds.
Paris, Illinois police believe Chandra Smith stole more than $10,000 from the Edgar County Health Department.
They believe it all started in January of 2010 and continued until she was fired in June of this year.
The health department said they noticed “inconsistencies” in their funds and requested an internal audit.
Once they discovered the missing funds they turned it over to police.
After a month-long investigation, police issued a felony theft warrant for Chandra Smith.
She turned herself into the Edgar County Jail, Friday.
The health department said they were shocked to learn about the missing money.
“Any dollar counts these days with reduced funding from the state and federal government,” Edgar County Health Department Administrator Eddie McFarland said. “Everything we do here we try to make every dollar count, certainly any dollar that isn’t accounted for hurts.”
The health department said they have worked with the county to create new policies and procedures to make sure this doesn’t happen again.
Smith is expected to appear in court November 3rd.