MONROE - A former Green County Human Services (GCHS) employee made her initial appearance in Green County Circuit Court on Monday for theft charges.
Denise B. Kohn, 42, Monroe, is charged with two counts of theft, both class G felonies, and one count of obstructing an officer, a class A misdemeanor. She faces more than 20 years in prison and up to $60,000 in fines, if convicted.
Court records allege Kohn, who was employed as a Services Specialist at GCHS, transferred more than $11,000 from a joint account of human services clients to pay on a loan for her home Oct. 26, 2006. She took more than $12,500 from clients to pay on a home loan in November 2008.
She gave false statements to Green County Sheriff's Department detectives when they questioned her in connection to the case in July 2008, according to court records
Kohn remains free on a $5,000 signature bond. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 1.
According to the criminal complaint, Kohn began working at GCHS in February 2002. Her job was to help human services clients establish budgets and pay their bills. Her client list included 32 people, but eventually increased to 77 people.
Initially all of the clients had separate checking and savings accounts and Kohn wrote checks to utility companies and other businesses to help clients keep their accounts organized and keep their bills paid.
In the fall of 2005, she requested, and received, permission from GCHS to open one bank account for several clients. She would be able to write one check to several businesses that serve the clients rather than writing several individual checks to the same companies.
In April 2008, a brother of one of Kohn's clients contacted human services to find out how much money his sister had in her account. When told she had $158 in her account he informed human services workers his sister should have about $2,000 in her account.
GCHS later discovered a wire withdrawal for more than $12,000 from the account of another client of Kohn's. Kohn completed a Social Security report for the client and stated the client received $7,984 in Social Security benefits for the year, which was used to pay for housing, food and other expenses. Records at GCHS showed the client actually received more than $26,000 in benefits from Dec. 14, 2005, to July 3, 2008, and only $2,721 was used to pay for expenses.
Denise B. Kohn, 42, Monroe, is charged with two counts of theft, both class G felonies, and one count of obstructing an officer, a class A misdemeanor. She faces more than 20 years in prison and up to $60,000 in fines, if convicted.
Court records allege Kohn, who was employed as a Services Specialist at GCHS, transferred more than $11,000 from a joint account of human services clients to pay on a loan for her home Oct. 26, 2006. She took more than $12,500 from clients to pay on a home loan in November 2008.
She gave false statements to Green County Sheriff's Department detectives when they questioned her in connection to the case in July 2008, according to court records
Kohn remains free on a $5,000 signature bond. A preliminary hearing was scheduled for April 1.
According to the criminal complaint, Kohn began working at GCHS in February 2002. Her job was to help human services clients establish budgets and pay their bills. Her client list included 32 people, but eventually increased to 77 people.
Initially all of the clients had separate checking and savings accounts and Kohn wrote checks to utility companies and other businesses to help clients keep their accounts organized and keep their bills paid.
In the fall of 2005, she requested, and received, permission from GCHS to open one bank account for several clients. She would be able to write one check to several businesses that serve the clients rather than writing several individual checks to the same companies.
In April 2008, a brother of one of Kohn's clients contacted human services to find out how much money his sister had in her account. When told she had $158 in her account he informed human services workers his sister should have about $2,000 in her account.
GCHS later discovered a wire withdrawal for more than $12,000 from the account of another client of Kohn's. Kohn completed a Social Security report for the client and stated the client received $7,984 in Social Security benefits for the year, which was used to pay for housing, food and other expenses. Records at GCHS showed the client actually received more than $26,000 in benefits from Dec. 14, 2005, to July 3, 2008, and only $2,721 was used to pay for expenses.