Former DHS worker pleads not guilty to stealing $300K

(CHICAGO) A former caseworker for the state’s Department of Human Services accused of stealing more than $300,000 in assistance meant for families in need pleaded not guilty Tuesday.

Debra Moore, 63, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to two counts of acting as an organizer of a continuing financial crimes enterprise, identity theft, wire fraud and two counts of official misconduct, according to a statement from Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office. If convicted, she faces up to 30 years in prison.

Authorities claim Moore sold LINK cards to friends and relatives, and added unauthorized benefits in exchange for cash while she was an IDHS caseworker at the Woodlawn Family Community Resource Center.

Between 2004 and 2013, Moore gave more than $300,000 in unauthorized benefits to people who were not eligible to receive them, officials claim.

“The defendant was employed to provide services to some of our state’s most vulnerable families, and she abused that trust,” Madigan said in the statement.

Moore, a former Chicago resident who now lives in Baytown, Texas, has been out on bond under electronic monitoring in Chicago, officials said. She will next appear in court Sept. 29.

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