The superintendent of an Indiana school system north and east of the greater Indianapolis area was recently arrested on insurance fraud and other criminal charges, including official misconduct. Some of these charges are felonies under Indiana law.
The woman was allowed to bail out of jail on a $500 bond. Investigators say that the woman picked up a student, who was 15, to take him to the doctor. She was concerned that the student had a serious illness, strep throat, which can if untreated get progressively worse and cause grave health concerns. The student did not have means of providing for medical care.
Even though they were sympathetic to the woman’s explanation, authorities were still concerned about the fact that the woman passed the boy off as her own son both at a medical clinic and at a pharmacy. Through her actions, she procured an antibiotic for the boy which he needed in order to get over his illness.
Police pointed out that the woman did have the option of contacting child welfare authorities and may have not been setting the best example for her other students, whom school officials would naturally expect to be truthful and forthcoming.
The woman says that prosecutors are offering her an alternative to pleading guilty and facing jail and, in all likelihood, the loss of her job as well. Her school board has indicated they will continue to support her in her role.
Still, this case illustrates what this blog has stated before. Namely, law enforcement officials at the state and federal levels take white collar crimes seriously, and they rarely worry much about the motives behind people’s actions. Those accused of white collar crimes will likely need a vigorous legal defense.
