KANKAKEE — A former Iroquois County Public Health Department administrator charged with 33 felony counts of theft, forgery and official misconduct is due back in court two weeks before Christmas.
Appearing in court with her attorney on Wednesday, Oct. 16, Dee Ann Schippert, 57, of Watseka, pleaded not guilty and requested a jury trial, according to online Iroquois County Circuit Court records. A scheduling conference was set for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 11, before Kankakee County Judge William Dickenson, who was reassigned the case due to the recusal of Iroquois County Judges Michael Sabol and Kara Bartucci.
Dee Ann Schippert
The Illinois Attorney General’s Office charged Schippert on March 20 with 33 felonies — including eight counts of theft of governmental property by deception, eight counts of forgery and 17 counts of official misconduct — alleging she stole more than $100,000 from the health department between May 31, 2020, and July 15, 2022, by billing it for overtime and backpay she never earned. The charges also allege Schippert committed “whistleblower retaliation” by firing an employee on June 15, 2022, after the staffer tipped off authorities to her conduct.
The most serious of the 33 charges are two Class X felony counts of theft of governmental property, each punishable by six to 30 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections and up to a $25,000 fine. The other six theft counts are Class 1 felonies, each punishable by four to 15 years in prison and up to a $25,000 fine, while all eight forgery charges and all 17 official misconduct charges are Class 3 felonies, each punishable by between two to five years in prison and up to a $25,000 fine. If Schippert is convicted, the sentences could run concurrently, the attorney general’s office said.
Schippert was appointed Iroquois County Public Health Department administrator upon the agency’s establishment on July 1, 2014, which coincided with the dissolution of the Ford-Iroquois Public Health Department, where she had worked the previous 22 years, starting as a home health care nurse in 1992 and then as community and school health coordinator since 2009.