After a lengthy probe, a former Dakota County employee has been charged with stealing funds intended to help social services clients and using them to pay her personal bills, including her mortgage.
Aleathea McWilliams, 52, of Minneapolis, has been charged with stealing more than $25,000 in cash and nearly $3,000 worth of bus passes from the county.
Last May, Social Services managers reported to the Dakota County Sheriff's Office that McWilliams, who was responsible for generating paperwork for payment requests made by social services case agents, appeared to be responsible for a series of suspicious payments, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in Dakota County District Court.
Such payments are intended to be used by social services clients for phone service, utility bills and housing assistance.
Instead, McWilliams allegedly used the money to pay $25,511.88 worth of her own expenses, including her mortgage, utility bills, credit cards, Greyhound bus tickets and a tow service, the complaint says.
During an interview with Dakota County Sheriff's investigators, McWilliams admitted to creating the false paperwork necessary to transfer funds to pay her bills, according to the complaint. Those alleged crimes began on Nov. 25, 2009 and continued through last April 26.
During the investigation, social services workers realized that MTC bus passes, kept on hand for clients, were missing. Distributing bus passes was among McWilliams' duties.
In a search of her home on June 8, authorities found $2,749 in MTC and Metro Mobility bus passes, the complaint said.
