CHICAGO, Aug. 2 (UPI) -- An Illinois jail employee is facing criminal charges for allegedly pocketing at least $370,000 she took from prisoners' commissary accounts, officials said.
Cook County Jail supervisor Elizabeth Hudson, 61, was taken into police custody Thursday after police conducted a two-month probe into her alleged theft activities, the Chicago Sun-Times reported Saturday.
Hudson is facing charges of theft of governmental property over $100,000, theft over $100,000 and official misconduct, the newspaper said.
She is accused of stealing cash handed over by incoming prisoners from September 2004 to June 2008, sheriff's department spokesman Steve Patterson said.
Officials said Hudson balanced old inmates' accounts with money handed over by new prisoners.
"She was able to keep that balanced to the point where she got away with it for a long time," Patterson said, adding that Hudson was behind bars Friday at Cook County Jail on $50,000 bond.
