The Rock River Times reports:
Elizabeth Schmidtke, 27, pled guilty to aggravated identity theft and was sentenced to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections Dec. 16.
In May 2011, City of Rockford detectives began an investigation into photocopied checks that were located in another state but belonged to patients at a local medical office. Each check had handwriting next to it that appeared to be the handwriting of an employee, Schmidtke, at the local medical office. It was learned that Schmidtke would make copies of personal checks as patients paid for services and give them to another person. The copied checks were then used by others to create counterfeit checks that were cashed at stores. The majority of the victims were 60 years of age or older.
Aggravated identity theft is a class 1 felony with a sentencing range of probation or four to 15 years in the Department of Corrections, followed by two years of mandatory supervised release.
The Rockford Register Star adds that “Although nine counts were listed in court records, Schmidtke pleaded guilty to one. The rest were dropped.”
I wonder what kind of background check the medical office used. A quick Google search on the employee’s name revealed that she had been arrested in August 2007 for prostitution after posting an ad on Craigslist selling sex. At the time, reporter Sadie Gurman of the Rockford Register Star reported:
Schmidtke was charged with prostitution and arrested on an outstanding warrant for failure to appear in Winnebago County court on a DUI charge. She posted bond and was released. Court records show that she has been arrested for possession of cannabis and a string of traffic violations, including drunken driving, but never for prostitution in Winnebago County.
With a criminal history like that, how did she get a job in that medical office?