Two sisters with local ties have been charged with stealing thousands of dollars from a group that represents Illinois private colleges. The State Journal Register and the Associated Press have said that Cynthia Fuchs of Springfield and her sister Penny Stockton of Jacksonville stole between $100,000 and nearly a half a million dollars between 2010 and 2017 from the Federation of Independent Illinois Colleges and Universities in Springfield.
Sangamon County State’s Attorney Dan Wright announced the charges yesterday. Currently, both women are lodged at the Sangamon County Jail on $150,000 bond. According to Wright, both women face between 4 and 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Fuchs was vice president of the organization and had worked for the organization since 1991. Stockton worked as an administrative assistant since 2004, according to the report. Both were fired with cause in 2017 after an internal investigation by the federation, according to a statement from Federation President Dave Tretter. It was unknown if either women had legal counsel at this time.
