Former city worker gets prison for theft

ST. LOUIS -- The former municipal court administrator for O'Fallon was sentenced Monday to 18 months in prison for making false statements on tax returns in connection with the theft of nearly $350,000 from the municipal court, using much of the money to gamble.

Kim Hawk, 41, was also ordered to pay restitution of $77,434. Hawk pleaded guilty in federal court in June. Hawk was administrator of the municipal court from 1996 through September 2003. Among other things, she was responsible for accepting cash bonds from police, logging deposits into the court system and preparing deposits of cash bonds into the municipal court bank account.

Authorities said Hawk stole money from the cash bonds before the deposit was made into the municipal court account. She said she used most of the money to gamble at Ameristar Casino in St. Charles.

"Ms. Hawk and others like her try to convince themselves they can win back money they have stolen, but they rarely do," U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway said. "Now she not only faces jail time, but years of repaying the stolen money."

Hawk failed to include approximately $285,000 of the $347,000 she stole in her adjusted gross income on her tax returns for 1999 through 2003, Hanaway said.