State money allegedly spent on boat, cruise

Former state worker accused of stealing $750,000

By Dave McKinney

Sun-Times, Chicago, IL

Published Wednesday, April 2, 2008

SPRINGFIELD -- A former state administrator was charged Tuesday with stealing $750,000 from the state treasury, in part to pay college bills, purchase a boat and go on a cruise.

A federal grand jury in the state capital indicted Debra K. Kirby, 54, of Downstate Taylorville, on charges of wire fraud and money laundering for a scheme that could result in a 30-year prison term.

Former state treasurer employee charged with taking $750,000 Kirby, who retired from the state in 2006, was a 33-year employee of the treasurer's office, overseeing a unit that processed state deposits.

"This indictment represents a stunning disregard for the pubic trust and an appalling display of fraud by someone who was supposed to be responsible for protecting taxpayers' dollars," said Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, whose office uncovered the alleged wrongdoing, which predated his tenure.

In 2005, Kirby -- a $67,000-a-year state worker -- allegedly transferred $750,000 in government funds to a personal bank account she had established using her elderly mother's address.

To cover that transfer, Kirby allegedly created paperwork falsifying the return of a $263,408 tax refund owed to a Downstate Pekin hospital. Later, in 2006, she allegedly took a generic deposit slip from the treasurer's office and moved the remaining $486,591 from her own bank account back into the treasury.

Prosecutors alleged the net loss to state taxpayers was $263,408 -- money that she allegedly spent on a boat, a truck, a camper, a vacation to Orlando, a cruise, college tuition and a mortgage payment. The feds are seeking the return of those funds.

"It seems clear from the limited amount we know, it wasn't as if she used it to pay off large amounts of debt or medical bills. It seems like it was pretty frivolous spending," said Paul Miller, Giannoulias' general counsel.

No date has been set for Kirby to appear in federal court. Attempts to contact her were unsuccessful.

Former Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka, who held office from 1995 to 2007, said she "hardly knew" Kirby and was stunned to learn of the theft.

"I guess it is conceivable that she could do this without anyone in the office knowing it. I was personally shocked by it, that it happened at all," Topinka said. "But since it did, the state should throw the book at her as that kind of stealing is untenable. Makes me sick."