Northside Prep Payroll Clerk Charged With Stealing Money

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A payroll clerk at the elite Northside College Prep High School has been charged with collecting and cashing checks that were supposed to go to work-study students.

Maha Shahwan, 47, of Chicago is charged with one count of felony theft, on allegations that she forged time sheets, and collected and cashed checks that were intended for students.

Shahwan worked as a payroll clerk at the school, 5500 N. Kedzie Ave., and was responsible for submitting time sheets for students in the school's work-study program.

But over a period of three months beginning in March 2010, prosecutors said Shahwan started submitting work orders for students who weren't participating in the program anymore. One had already graduated from the school and gone off to college and another who was living outside the country.

Shahwan would then process the time sheets she submitted with the students' names, and pocket the checks that were cut with t he students' names, according to the Cook County State's Attorney's office.

Prosecutors said they figured out Shahwan was up to no good when students started receiving W-2 tax forms for time they had never worked. They notified the school, and school officials found out that three fraudulent checks with the students' names were deposited directly in to Shahwan's bank account, and several others were cashed at her bank with her account number written on them.

Shahwan's bond was set at $15,000 Wednesday. She is to return to court on Nov. 29.