Lincoln Way Central athletic secretary charged with stealing booster club funds

A secretary at Lincoln Way Central High School has been charged with stealing more than $30,000 from the school’s Athletic Booster Club since August 2017. | Google Maps

A secretary has been charged with stealing more than $30,000 from an athletic club at Lincoln Way Central High School in southwest suburban New Lenox.

Melissa McGrath, 51, is charged with five counts of theft, two counts of theft by deception, two counts of identity theft and two counts of forgery, all felonies, according to a statement from the Will County sheriff’s office.

Detectives were called to the school, 1801 E. Lincoln Highway, on Aug. 6 to speak to administrators about “suspicious financial transgressions discovered on the accounting books of the Lincoln Way Athletics Booster Club,” the sheriff’s office said.

Melissa A. McGrath

School administrators learned McGrath was operating two sets of financial books in order to steal money from the club, the sheriff’s office said. She would present one spreadsheet to the Athletic Boosters and a second that she would submit for official accounting to the school district.

Investigators also learned McGrath submitted reports with forged signatures of athletic club board members, authorities said. More than $30,000 in club funds was found to be missing between August 2017 and April 2019.

McGrath was arrested Friday at her Manhattan home, the sheriff’s office said. She remains held at the Will County Adult Detention Facility on $200,000 bail and is expected to appear in court on Monday.

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