Nora L. Steele, Embezzlement and Tax Evasion, Illinois 2019

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Nora L. Steele, the former operations director of a Rock Island, Ill., program that provided summer and after-school meals to at-risk children, plead guilty to defrauding the government of approximately $515,617, and filing a false tax return.

Steele, 66, of Silvis, Ill., plead guilty to one count each of fraud and filing a false tax return in her appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge Jonathan E. Hawley in Rock Island. Sentencing has been scheduled on Jan. 17, 2019, before Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid in Peoria.

Steele served as the operations director for the Quad Cities Area Children’s Food Program (QCACFP) from its inception in February 2016 until she left the organization in June 2017. Prior to the creation of QCACFP, Steele had served in a similar capacity since 2004 for an affiliated entity, Church of Peace, in Rock Island.

According to court documents, Steele admitted that from August 2015 to June 2017, she submitted falsely inflated meal count forms for reimbursement. In some cases additional meals that were not served were added to counts of legitimate meals that were served to children. In other cases, Steele submitted fraudulent meal count forms when no meals at all were served at a particular location on a given day.

Among other things, the inflated reimbursement payments were used to fund Steele’s salary and salaries for Steele’s family members who performed nominal duties for the food program. Steele also set up a retirement account for herself that was fully funded by the food program. Steele also used the program’s credit card to make personal purchases from QVC, including a compact, foldable exercise bike which Steele categorized as uniforms.

In addition, Steele created and claimed fabricated mileage reimbursements. Steele consistently claimed to have driven approximately 1,500 miles per monthly pay period for a monthly reimbursement of approximately $840 for work related travel that she did not actually make. For the period of March 2016 through June 2017, Steele claimed work travel mileage reimbursement for more miles than the total mileage the vehicles belonging to Steele and her husband travelled during the same time period.

At sentencing, the statutory maximum penalty for mail fraud is 20 years in prison. For filing a false tax return, the penalty is up to three years in prison.

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