The following is a press release from the Rockridge School District: The Board of Education of Rockridge Community Unit School District No. 300 has directed its attorneys to file suit against Angela Strong to recover additional moneys that Ms. Strong embezzled from the District when she was an employee. Ms. Strong submitted her resignation on August 15, 2018 after school officials were notified by district auditors of questionable entries related to school activity accounts administered by Ms. Strong. During questioning by school representatives, Ms. Strong admitted that she had misappropriated money for personal use over the prior two years. While Ms. Strong returned $8000 to the school district, the Board of Education subsequently asked district auditors to conduct a forensic audit of the funds administered by Ms. Strong. The auditors discovered an additional $7173 was misappropriated and determined that gate receipts for extracurricular events during the time period in question were thousands of dollars lower than historical figures. School officials referred the matter to the Rock Island Sheriff when the matter was discovered and cooperated with law enforcement authorities during the investigation. John McGehee, the former Rock Island States Attorney initially indicated that his office would prosecute Ms. Strong for the theft. However, Mr. McGehee was appointed to a judgeship in April of this year. After Mr. McGehee was appointed to the bench, Patricia Castro was appointed as acting States Attorney and she informed school officials that she will not prosecute Ms. Strong or seek restitution for the remaining monies owed. The School District has reached out to the new Interim State’s Attorney, Dora Villarreal, about the matter but she has not returned repeated attempts to contact her. The Board is disappointed with the position of the States Attorneys office and believes that Ms. Strong should not only be prosecuted criminally for her wrongdoing but that every cent of the money she misappropriated from the school should be returned. For this reason, the Board will undertake an effort to recover the moneys in civil court.
