A former principal of a Chicago elementary school was found dead after she missed her sentencing hearing for stealing nearly $300,000 from the district.
The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Sarah Jackson Abedelal, 61, who had been principal at Brenneman Elementary on the city's North Side, was to be sentenced Tuesday. When she failed to appear, U.S. District Court Judge Sara Ellis issued an arrest warrant and rescheduled the sentencing for Wednesday. That's when defense attorney Jonathan Bedi told the judge that Abedelal had died.
Bedi did not elaborate on the circumstances of Abedelal’s death.
Prosecutors first leveled charges against Abedelal in July 2021. Starting in Spring 2012, Abedelal approached certain Brennemann employees and told them she was going to put them down for overtime they weren’t expected to work. She told them to withdraw the unearned overtime money and bring it to her in cash.
Abedelal told her workers that she’d use the money to pay for school expenses that the district wouldn’t cover — including printer repairs, school supplies and salaries.
But Abedelal later admitted the “vast majority” of the more than $250,000 she secured through the scheme wound up going to her own personal expenses.
Prosecutors say Abedelal enlisted employees who feared her to pull off the scheme. They said she made one staffer chauffeur her around town, take her shopping during school hours and clean her house. She allegedly had another drive her to medical appointments.
A separate scheme involving fake purchase orders and invoices for school supplies steered iPhones, iPads and more than $30,000 in gift cards Abedelal’s way. Prosecutors say she used the gift cards to buy, among other things, a Tiffany’s bracelet, gold hoop earrings, clothing, a Chanel bag, Jimmy Choo shoes and perfume.
