McHenry woman who stole $66K from youth baseball group faces new $280K theft charge

A McHenry woman who was convicted in 2018 of embezzling nearly $67,000 from a youth sports association now is accused of stealing more than $200,000 from a Woodstock business where she worked.

Kelly Ference, 39, is charged with identity theft of more than $100,000, a Class X felony; unauthorized control of between $100,000 and $500,000; forgery; and deceptive practices, according to jail and court records and Judge Carl Metz.

If convicted on the Class X felony, she could be sentenced up to 30 years in prison. Ference was taken into custody of the county jail Monday and made an initial court appearance Tuesday where Metz released her from jail pretrial. While released, Ference must comply with basic conditions including that she not leave the state without permission from the court.

Prosecutors provided no additional information about the new allegations against Ference during the hearing. However, Emily Matusek Baker, communications specialist with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, said Ference is accused of stealing $280,000 from Woodstock-based business American Ad Bag “by depositing checks addressed to the company into her personal account.”

In court Tuesday Ference told the judge she currently is unemployed, she said on her Linked In page that she works for the company as a billing and credit specialist.

Metz assigned Ference an attorney from the public defenders office and set her next court date on Dec. 31. A call to American Ad Bag was not immediately returned.

In 2018, Ference pleaded guilty to felony theft of $66,657 from the nonprofit McHenry Baseball Association, for which she had worked as the treasurer, according to news coverage at the time and court records. She was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay the league restitution, court records show.

That investigation began when members of the association reported to police that a large amount of money had not been paid to the league’s vendors in 2016 and 2017, according to the police and news coverage at the time.

Police found that Ference, who was volunteering as the league’s treasurer, had cashed 77 checks between July 18, 2016, and July 27, 2017.

Prior to committing these offenses, Ference had various convictions of theft, misuse of a credit card and forgery dating back to 2007 out of Cook County, prosecutors said at the time.