Former Hanover Twp. welfare director under investigation
Less than a week into her stay at the Fox Valley Transitional Center in Aurora, Aurea Picasso was ordered back to an isolated life in a downstate prison - no visitors, one phone call a week.
"I'm very religious and I prayed so hard to leave here, and now I'm back," a baffled Picasso said under a prison guard's watchful eye.
Serving time for an identity theft conviction unrelated to her former job as Hanover Township director of welfare services, Picasso met with a reporter to find out why this was happening.
Illinois Department of Corrections authorities returned Picasso, 44, of Aurora, to Dwight Correctional Center after learning she's the target of a 10-month-long Cook County state's attorney's office investigation.
The investigation was launched after Hanover Township Supervisor Brian McGuire discovered what he believes to be more than $300,000 in questionable expenditures over the last several years. He says he believes Picasso misused money over the five years she was welfare services director.
McGuire says he has evidence that Picasso wrote hundreds of checks to individuals and vendors for which there are no valid records or documentation, including a $3,816 to payment to her daughter's orthodontist.
"The only people who can say fraud has been committed are a judge and a jury, but I will say we've turned over to the state's attorney well over $300,000 in what we believe are suspicious expenditures," McGuire said. "There was definitely some funny business."
He said it went on until May 2009, when McGuire fired Picasso immediately after taking office as supervisor.
Some months, McGuire said, the township distributed more in questionable payments than actual aid.
Picasso denied all McGuire's charges and said she's the victim of a political feud between McGuire and his predecessor in the office.
Picasso, who sat down for an interview at Dwight, had expected to be paroled Oct. 26 for the identity theft conviction, one year into her three-year sentence.
"I was getting ready to start over and now I don't know what's going to happen," Picasso said. "I'm an emotional wreck."
McGuire said no one in Hanover Township ran a background check on Picasso when she was hired in September 2003. Court records show she was convicted of felony theft by deception earlier that year and given two years' probation. In 1994, she received one year of probation for a deceptive practices conviction.
No charges have been brought against her over the township funds targeted in the current investigation. The Cook County state's attorney's office says it doesn't comment on open investigations.
But McGuire, who referred to the investigation in his annual township report, said he decided to make the matter public because it is important for residents to know.
"And I want to be clear that we have made many changes to ensure this never happens again," he said.
'There are no files'McGuire, a Hanover Township trustee and clerk for about 16 years before being elected supervisor, said he didn't like the way Picasso treated clients and fired her the day after he took office on May 18, 2009 - before he suspected any wrongdoing. Picasso said that according to a release agreement she signed, McGuire wanted to bring in his own people, which McGuire acknowledged. Both say they didn't get along.McGuire said he first noticed something amiss when he led his first board meeting and was given a batch of checks to sign. In the pile were about 15 checks for welfare recipients with names but no addresses. Typical checks include both unless someone is homeless or transient.McGuire asked the township's new director of welfare services, Mary Jo Imperato, to pull the case files."Mary Jo said, 'Hey, are you sitting down? There are no files for those 15 people,'" McGuire recalled.Other township employees then described a "shred fest" ordered by Picasso the week before McGuire took office as supervisor. Picasso denies that ever took place."That's when we started an internal investigation," he said.It became apparent there wasn't a simple explanation, McGuire said, especially when the checks without addresses went unclaimed. "Nobody called for the checks, nobody came," McGuire said. "It's not a lot of money, but to them (welfare recipients) it makes up a large part of their income."Calling in the countyAccording to documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, McGuire wrote the Cook County state's attorney's office in June and July 2009 detailing "alleged administrative malfeasance."Checks McGuire is challenging that were shown to the Daily Herald include the $3,816 payment to an Aurora orthodontist, five checks to various collection agencies totaling more than $3,850, a $1,042.50 check to Provena Medical Center and $340 to the Chicago Flower Garden Show.Hanover Township welfare money is paid out as either general assistance or emergency assistance. General assistance fund expenditures totaled $185,000 in the 2004 budget and increased to $278,000 in the 2008 budget.McGuire said it's feasible individual emergency assistance checks could go as high as $1,500 in special cases, but there's no way a flower and garden show would qualify.He added that a payment to Provena wouldn't be legitimate, either, since the township refers people only to Stroger Hospital or Access to Care, a Cook County program serving low-income uninsured people.When questioned about the orthodontist check, Picasso said, "I don't want to bring my daughter into this." But she denied she ever knowingly wrote up an improper invoice for her own benefit or anyone else's.Picasso said she has only some furniture and pots and pans to her name. "Where do I have $300,000?" Picasso said. "It's his (McGuire's) word against mine and I'm the one in prison, so I'm screwed."Hanover Township attorney Larry Mraz also wrote the state's attorney's office about the questionable payments. He provided one example in which a $1,571 check to a debt collection agency appears to be for an account attributable to Picasso.Mraz closed his letter by confirming he spoke with an assistant state's attorney and that Hanover Township will be reporting the matter to its risk management agency "as an insurance claim for employee theft."False10001236Michael Kelly False <p class="factboxheadblack">Township changes policies on welfare checks</p><p class="News">Hanover Township Supervisor Brian McGuire has overhauled the township's welfare administration after uncovering evidence that he says shows funds were misused before he took office.</p><p class="News">"I want taxpayers to know that I've added layers of checks and balances," McGuire said. "Before, an awful lot of authority was invested in one person, and that's not the case anymore."</p><p class="News">Among the changes:</p><p class="News">• The township administrator and trustees now have authority to see welfare checks. Before, only the welfare services director and township supervisor saw them.</p><p class="News">• The welfare services director no longer has check-signing authority for the food pantry.</p><p class="News">• McGuire reorganized and reduced the welfare services staff last July from 13 employees to about six, and he raised education standards. The difference in payroll is negligible because more people are working full time.</p><p class="News">• Welfare checks are now a different color than all other checks.</p><p class="News">• Everyone, including food pantry volunteers, now undergoes a criminal-background check.</p><p class="News">• The welfare services department now reports to the township administrator, who personally conducts reviews of welfare case files to make sure they comply with eligibility requirements.</p><p class="News">"One of the problems was that the (welfare services) department was very isolated," Administrator James Barr said. "It was in the hands of one individual, and now there's more general accountability."</p><p class="News">There were 69 active welfare cases when McGuire took office last year. Today, the number fluctuates between six and 15 cases.</p><p class="News">McGuire attributed the dramatic drop to several reasons, including a bigger push to get people off welfare and refer them to other programs, prompt removal of clients no longer eligible and removal of clients without addresses who he believes were fictitious.</p><p class="News">"People steal, and that won't change," McGuire said. "But what happened shouldn't be a reflection on the township. This gives us a black eye, but we'll get through it."</p><div class="infoBox"><h1>More Coverage</h1><div class="infoBoxContent"><div class="infoArea"><h2>Stories</h2><ul class="links"><li><a href="/story/?id=383783">Former township supervisor: 'I trusted her with everything' <span class="date">[5/27/10]</span></a></li></ul></div></div></div>