3 more charged in Hewitt scam

Three more former Hewitt Associates employees have been arrested and charged with forgery and theft for scamming tuition reimbursements from the Lincolnshire company, police officials said.

That brings the total number of arrests in the tuition scam to 14, with potentially more to come, officials said.

The latest three are Channel Clemons, 33, of 3515 S. Cottage Grove in Chicago; Kristopher G. McLendon, 30, of 1246 N. Massasoit St. in Chicago; and Kenya M. McMillan, 28, of 810 W. Grace in Chicago.

Like 11 other former employees of Hewitt, all three have been charged with forgery, a class three felony. In addition, McLendon and McMillan were charged with class three felony theft, while Clemons was charged with class two felony theft.

All three have been process through bond court and released on $50,000 personal recognizance bonds. In addition, all three will appear in court on Tuesday, Oct. 21, at 1:30 p.m.

All the former Hewitt employees have been charged since Sept. 23 with using an in-house continuing education program to bilk the company out of at least $100,000, police said.

The company's continuing education program allows employees to be reimbursed up to $5,000 by Hewitt annually to return to college to further their education.

Police said the suspects either never applied for education courses but turned in paperwork saying they did; applied for but never completed the classes but turned in paperwork showing the course was finished; or changed grades on report cards to ensure the company would reimburse their expenses.

Hewitt officials discovered the problem and contacted police, officials said.

Police added the investigation is continuing and additional arrests are expected.

The scam was not organized, police say, but the employees involved were friends. The money was paid out by Hewitt since October 2005.