Eight arrested in Hewitt education reimbursement scam
Eight former employees of Hewitt Associates in Lincolnshire have been arrested for using an in-house continuing education program to scam the company out of thousands of dollars, police said Wednesday.
Seven of the employees were fired Tuesday, then turned over to police following Hewitt's internal investigation, Lincolnshire Police Det. John-Erik Anderson said.
The investigation is continuing and other current and former employees could be arrested by the end of the week, Anderson said.
The arrested employees are charged with forgery, a class 3 felony. In addition, six of the eight are charged with felony theft, which is a class two or class three felony depending on the amount of money each person took from Hewitt, he said. If convicted of the felonies, each could face up to 3 years behind bars.
The theft revolves around the company's continuing education program, in which employees can be reimbursed up to $5,000 in one year to return to college to further their education.
"Basically, someone figured out they could make up documents claiming they finished the education when they really didn't," Anderson said. "And, Hewitt employees discovered the problem."
The scam was not organized, police say, but the employees involved were friends. The money was paid out by Hewitt since October 2005, but police would not comment on the total amount taken.
Anderson said the eight employees either never applied for education courses but turned in paperwork saying they did, applied for continuing education courses and never completed the courses, or forged report cards from the college to change grades they received to ensure their education was reimbursed.
"The company requires a C grade for the education to be reimbursed," he said. "So, some changed a failing grade to a C to collect the money."
Anderson said the eight arrested are:
• Latoya C. Seaton, 26, 1770 Michigan City Road, Calumet City.
• Nekessa D. Johnson, 31, 3100 W. Polk Street, Chicago
• Chimere U. Barton, 26, 1525 Howard Street, Evanston
• Dora Collins, 36, 2115 E. 96th Place, Chicago
• Lekeydrance Carter, 24, 10102 Holly Lane, Des Plaines
• Tracy L. Reed, 33, 414 E. 110th Place, Chicago
• Shawn S. Goff, 32, 616 S. 22nd Street, Bellwood.
• Geralyn Garcilazo, 36, 5157 Pembrooke Court, Gurnee.
Anderson said Goff and Garcilazo were charged with forgery but not with theft, because while they turned in their paperwork to collect on the continuing education program, Hewitt had not yet issued reimbursement checks.
Amy Wulfestieg, a spokeswoman for Hewitt, said the eight former employees were arrested on the internal matter, clients were not affected, and the company is cooperating fully with police. Hewitt is a human resources consulting firm.
Seven of the employees worked for Hewitt until just before the arrests Tuesday, she said, while the eighth has not worked for the company for "quite some time."