Aug. 22--A pregnant hairdresser was ordered to report to jail in February -- about three months after she is expected to give birth -- after pleading guilty Friday to misusing an elderly client's credit card to pay for donor sperm.
In a negotiated plea, Jenifer Perik, 42, of Elgin, admitted guilt in DuPage County court to aggravated identify theft for running up more than $6,000 in purchases on the 93-year-old Lisle woman's credit card between August 2014 and January.
More than half of the total stolen went to an East Coast genetics and fertility clinic. At a hearing this spring, prosecutors said Perik paid the clinic to ship her five sperm samples. She is due to give birth in November to a child authorities believe was conceived with the sperm she received.
Judge John Kinsella ordered her to surrender in February to serve 120 days in the county jail. She was also placed on probation for four years and ordered to make restitution.
Assistant State's Attorney Diane Michalak said Perik had been the hairdresser for both the elderly woman and the woman's daughter.
"They had been going to the defendant for years, and (the daughter) used to rely on the defendant to let her know if anything seemed off about her mother or her mother's health when she could not accompany her to the salon," Michalak said.
The daughter discovered unauthorized purchases on her mother's credit card and called police. They found 39 charges for a variety of things. The biggest single purchase was a Christmas Day 2014 payment to the clinic for about $2,200, prosecutors said.
Officials at the clinic, which has offices in Virginia and Maryland, told police that Perik passed herself off as the elderly woman's granddaughter and that Perik said the purchases had been authorized. The clinic's websites boasts of its high-quality donors and says only 1 in 200 candidates are accepted.
Perik admitted using the card and said she thought she could repay the woman, though MIchalak said that Perik has yet to make any restitution.
"It's pretty despicable to steal money from an old lady," Kinsella told Perik.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.
