KANKAKEE — The judge assigned to former Iroquois County Public Health Department Administrator Dee Ann Schippert’s theft, forgery and official misconduct case is allowing her to travel to Indiana until the outcome of her jury trial.
The judge’s order allowing Schippert’s travel outside of Illinois followed the filing of a motion by Schippert’s attorneys requesting the expansion of her bond requirements. Prosecutors for the Illinois Attorney General’s Office had no objection, the order said.
The order was signed by the judge on Dec. 11 but not filed until Jan. 22 in Iroquois County Circuit Court, where the 57-year-old Schippert, of Watseka, is charged with 33 felonies, including eight counts of theft of government property by deception, eight counts of forgery and 17 counts of official misconduct.
According to the order, Schippert agrees to return to Illinois from Indiana and waives her rights to the issuance and service of a warrant of extradition and “all other procedures incidental to extradition proceedings,” including her right to petition for the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus.
Schippert, who has remained free from custody on pretrial conditions, is due in court again at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday, March 18, before Kankakee County Judge William Dickenson, who was assigned the case due to the recusal of two Iroquois County judges.
The charges allege that Schippert stole more than $100,000 from the Iroquois County Public Health Department between May 31, 2020, and July 15, 2022. The charges allege she submitted fraudulent timesheets claiming hours she did not work, including overtime and backpay she never earned; made “false representations” to the board of health to obtain its approval to receive pay for 179 hours of overtime; and fraudulently used grant funds from a grant for COVID-19 contact tracing to “pay for her overtime.”
Additionally, Schippert allegedly committed “whistleblower retaliation” by firing an employee on June 15, 2022, after the staffer tipped off authorities to her conduct.