MONROE - Green County Human Services (GCHS) Director Greg Holcomb announced Friday that procedures have changed to protect clients from theft.
The changes were made in July 2008 after former GCHS employee Denise Kohn, 42, Monroe, allegedly transferred money from clients' accounts to pay for a home mortgage.
Holcomb has waited to release details of the changes until after Green County District Attorney Gary Luhman issued a news release about the case against Kohn. Holcomb said he didn't want to jeopardize the investigation.
Green County Circuit Court records allege Kohn, who was employed as a services specialist, transferred more than $11,000 from a joint account of human services clients to pay a loan for her home Oct. 26, 2006. She took more than $12,500 from clients to pay on home loan in November 2007.
Court records also allege she gave false statements to Green County Sheriff's Department detectives when they questioned her in July 2008.
Holcomb said in response to the charges, which first became known to GCHS in July 2008, "safeguards" were put in place.
• Joint accounts for clients no longer are used. Each client has an individual account.
• One staff person helps the clients develop a budget and requests payments for bills, while a second staff person issues the checks.
• Individual accounts are reviewed on a regular basis.
• As in the past, the Social Security Administration audits GCHS programs annually.
Holcomb said checks and balances will make sure something like this doesn't happen again.
"These folks rely on us," Holcomb said of clients. "I feel comfortable with how we've handled this."
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.
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 was able to write one check to several businesses that served the clients rather than writing several individual checks.
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.
Kohn 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.
She remains free on a $5,000 signature bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 1.
The changes were made in July 2008 after former GCHS employee Denise Kohn, 42, Monroe, allegedly transferred money from clients' accounts to pay for a home mortgage.
Holcomb has waited to release details of the changes until after Green County District Attorney Gary Luhman issued a news release about the case against Kohn. Holcomb said he didn't want to jeopardize the investigation.
Green County Circuit Court records allege Kohn, who was employed as a services specialist, transferred more than $11,000 from a joint account of human services clients to pay a loan for her home Oct. 26, 2006. She took more than $12,500 from clients to pay on home loan in November 2007.
Court records also allege she gave false statements to Green County Sheriff's Department detectives when they questioned her in July 2008.
Holcomb said in response to the charges, which first became known to GCHS in July 2008, "safeguards" were put in place.
• Joint accounts for clients no longer are used. Each client has an individual account.
• One staff person helps the clients develop a budget and requests payments for bills, while a second staff person issues the checks.
• Individual accounts are reviewed on a regular basis.
• As in the past, the Social Security Administration audits GCHS programs annually.
Holcomb said checks and balances will make sure something like this doesn't happen again.
"These folks rely on us," Holcomb said of clients. "I feel comfortable with how we've handled this."
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.
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 was able to write one check to several businesses that served the clients rather than writing several individual checks.
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.
Kohn 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.
She remains free on a $5,000 signature bond. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 1.