Pinckneyville woman pleads guilty to stealing from fire protection district

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan reported June 21 that a Pinckneyville woman pleaded guilty to charges of theft and income tax fraud for allegedly stealing more than $200,000 from the Pinckneyville Rural Fire Protection District, PRFPD.

Tammy Kellerman, 52, of Pinckneyville, pleaded guilty in Perry County Criminal Court to one count of theft of government funds over $100,000, a Class X felony; one count of official misconduct, a Class 3 felony; and one count of filing a fraudulent Illinois income tax return, a Class 4 felony. 

Kellerman, a former PRFPD employee, was sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, IDOC, and was ordered to pay restitution.

Kellerman embezzled $242,040 from the PRFPD for her own personal use and failed to disclose the funds on her state income tax returns. 

Kellerman was previously convicted on four counts of related federal mail fraud charges and sentenced to two years and nine months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which will run concurrent to her IDOC prison sentence.

“This defendant abused her position and stole taxpayer funds that should have been used to benefit the community,” Madigan said.

“Individuals who defraud our state’s tax system by filing fraudulent tax returns must be held accountable for their actions,” Illinois Department of Revenue director Connie Beard said. 

The theft and income tax fraud investigation was conducted in cooperation with the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Revenue Criminal Investigations Division with assistance from the Federal Bureau of Investigation.