Courtni Hays charged with Class 2 Felony theft from Edgar County Health Department –

PARIS, IL. (ECWd) –

Former Edgar County Health Department employee Courtni Hays was arrested under an August 16, 2019, warrant and charged with a Class 2 Felony for allegedly committing theft of between $10,000 and $100,000 from the Edgar County Health Department.

Hays posted $500 Bond on August 19, 2019, and is scheduled to be back in court on September 19, 2019, at 9:30 a.m. in Courtroom 2 at the Edgar County Courthouse.

We first wrote about the alleged theft on August 13th but did not mention any names. At that time the allegation presented to us was theft between $1500 and $3500. It appears the Edgar County Sheriff’s Department investigated the allegations and found more alleged theft than what we previously wrote about.

This is not the first instance of theft at the Edgar County Health Department in recent years, as former ECHD employee Chandra Smith was convicted in 2013 of a Class 1 felony and ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $21,754.85.

Hays is currently employed by the Eastern Illinois Area Special Education and working as a Preschool Teacher (edited to remove location of work as there are several locations). Her teaching license had expired, and was reinstated on July 28, 2019 after she left the Health Department.

Earlier this  year, a different EIASE employee, Hillary Rawlings, was arrested and charged with six felony counts of child sexual abuse – Rawlings’ trial is scheduled for January 14, 2020.

***Please note that these are merely charges that were filed, and defendants are presumed innocent unless and until found guilty in a court of law.

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