Prairie State Wire

The Illinois Office of the Executive Inspector General (OEIG) has recommended that a former state employee be barred from all future employment with local government after she pleaded guilty to defrauding the state in an ongoing double-dipping scheme.

Catherine Houghtby, an Executive 1 in the Division of Community Outreach and Development, recently pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor theft count and was sentenced to a term of one-year conditional discharge and ordered to pay restitution.

The OEIG probe concluded that Houghtby, assigned to the Illinois Department of Aging (IDoA), defrauded the state by receiving reimbursement payments from both her own department and other branches of government, including the Illinois Council of Case of Coordination Units (ICCCU).  

In light of their findings, the Office of the Executive Inspector General (OEIG) in May of 2016 referred the case to the Illinois Office of the Attorney General, which several months later moved to formally file charges against Houghtby.

An investigation of Houghtby’s actions was first lodged in early 2016 after a complaint was filed alleging that she engaged in a $1,500 double-dipping scheme in 2014. During the course of that investigation, it was also alleged that Houghtby took part in a similar $500 scheme where she was reimbursed twice for the rental of a room. That same year, it was alleged that she received an entertainment reimbursement fee of at least $110 for the same expense.

Houghtby retired from the state in December of 2015 after serving 16 years.