Employee of six years was arrested last month in Rockford; he and his wife are accused of stealing from his mother
The Elmhurst Community Unit School District 205 Board held a special meeting on Dec. 10 at the District 205 Center, 162 S. York St.
One of the board’s seven members—Jim Collins—was absent from the meeting, which ended with a statement about Todd Schmidt, who had been the district’s director of facilities for six years. Schmidt was arrested recently in Rockford. Schmidt and his wife are accused of defrauding Schmidt’s mother of more than $100,000. Schmidt and his wife allegedly used his mother’s name to obtain loans and set up credit card accounts. Schmidt reportedly also used his mother’s credit card account for his own personal expenses, without her permission.
Arvanitis reads a statement from the board after members exit closed session
Shortly after the meeting was called to order at 3:31 p.m., board members went into closed session. When they came out of closed session more than two hours later, District 205 Board President Athena Arvanitis read a prepared statement issued by the board.
“Todd Schmidt was hired as the director of facilities by the former D205 administration in 2018, and has been with the district in this role for six years. Upon notification of Mr. Schmidt’s arrest, and the charges filed against him, the district placed Mr. Schmidt on leave, and immediately engaged in an internal investigation, specifically focusing on the use of district finances and resources in the department directly overseen by Mr. Schmidt.
“Mr. Schmidt submitted his resignation to the district yesterday, Dec. 9. Pursuant to board policy, the resignation became effective immediately upon his submission, and is irrevocable. The board will review any necessary avenues of legal recourse related to Mr. Schmidt once we have completed a thorough investigation.
“The board of education holds in high regard the immense level of trust the community places on each of us. At this moment, the community can expect to see the board move swiftly in addressing the discovered issues, while continuing to thoroughly seek to uncover any unknown issues at this time. In this effort, the board of education is engaging in a variety of next steps.
“The board, in close partnership with district attorneys, has begun the process of securing an external third-party auditor to review Mr. Schmidt’s actions in relation to district finances and resources, as well as take a complete look at district processes in this area. The results of this audit will be shared with the public upon its conclusion at a future board meeting.
“The board continues to engage in an internal investigation of personnel, and will hold all employees who do not meet the level of expectations set forth by the board of education and superintendent accountable, by implementing disciplinary action up to and including termination.
“More information will be provided to the community as we learn more about this matter. Thank you.”
Moments later, the board meeting ended at 5:52 p.m.
Schmidt’s financial conduct with the district will be scrutinized
As Arvanitis noted in her statement, Schmidt joined the district six years ago, in June 2018. Before coming to District 205, Schmidt spent 18 years in the Rockford Public School District. He had served as that district’s chief operations officer/executive director of operations from 2009 until he joined District 205. Schmidt spoke frequently during regular board meetings to give progress reports about capital projects in the district, including the construction projects to build new facilities at Lincoln Elementary School and Field Elementary School. The new Lincoln school opened in August 2022. The new Field school opened one year later, in August 2023. Each project cost more than $30 million.
The construction projects to build new facilities Lincoln and Field came after district voters approved a $168.5 million referendum in November 2018. The funds from that referendum were used to replace the aging facilities at those two schools, and to complete construction and renovation projects at the district’s facilities.
Schmidt spoke briefly at the board’s most recent regular meeting on Nov. 19. He spoke about the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) approving grants of up to $50,000 to school districts for school maintenance projects. He said that in the last couple of years, the district used those ISBE grants toward boiler replacements at York High School. He said that the district planned to use the upcoming $50,000 grant from ISBE toward construction work at Jefferson Elementary School, reducing the district’s expense for that work from about $150,000 to about $100,000.
The district has already pledged to audit all of its department budgets
Chris Whelton, the district’s assistant superintendent for finance and operations, also spoke at the regular board meeting on Nov. 19. Whelton spoke about the district’s estimated 2024 tax levy at the recent meeting. Whelton’s presentation included charts that estimated the district’s expenses for its 2024-25 fiscal year at about $177.1 million. That fiscal year ends on June 30, 2025.
While speaking at the regular meeting on Nov. 19, Whelton said the district staff is already focusing on the 2025-26 budget.
“We have already started working on next year’s budget to find ways to maximize our resources,” said Whelton. “We are taking a thorough review of all of our staffing positions to see if we can reduce positions through attrition, and we are auditing all of the department budgets to find ways to tighten the belt for the 2025-26 budget.”
What financial authority did Schmidt have with District 205?
Some of the audits Whelton mentioned will likely feature extensive scrutiny on Schmidt and his work with the district for the last six years. Schmidt, whose annual salary with the district exceeded $140,000 in 2023, was arrested in Rockford last month and charged with aggravated identity theft/$10,000 to $100,000, use of a forged credit/debit card and financial exploitation of an elderly person.
According to the Rockford Police Department’s November report about Schmidt, which was obtained and uploaded by David Giuliani of Patch (patch.com), Schmidt is accused of stealing money from his own mother since his father died in February 2018. According to the police report, after his father Roy passed away, Schmidt took possession of his father’s credit cards, and he did not close those accounts.
Schmidt’s mother lives in Rockford. Schmidt and his wife Rita reportedly live elsewhere in Rockford.
The police report alleged that Schmidt told his mother that she had gambled away all of her money, but that other family members started to believe “Todd had something to do with her not having any money because of his family’s extravagant lifestyle.”
Schmidt and his wife used his mother’s name to obtain student loans and to open a credit card account
According to the arrest report, Schmidt’s sister learned that her brother opened new accounts in their mother’s name. Schmidt’s wife Rita, who was also arrested last month, reportedly opened at least three student loans for at least one of their daughters, who attended the University of Missouri. Rita Schmidt named her mother-in-law as the endorser of those loans, one of which was for $39,000 in 2019. The second loan, also in 2019, was for $45,000. The third loan, for $45,000 was obtained in 2020. Rita Schmidt’s mother-in-law reportedly had no knowledge of co-signing on those student loans.
Those loans were reportedly accessed online in multiple locations, including District 205.
According to the police report from Rockford, Todd Schmidt had his own Capital One credit card on his mother’s account, even though his mother never gave him or his family permission to use the card for personal expenses. Todd Schmidt allegedly made numerous charges to that account, including charges made in Elmhurst, and charges he made in Jamaica.
The police report from Rockford also noted that a $15,000 loan in Schmidt’s mother’s name was opened in 2019. No payments were made after November of that year, and the loan was placed in default.
Schmidt’s mother wished to press charges against her son and his wife
A detective asked Schmidt’s mother if she wanted to press charges against her son. According to the police report, she said she did not want her son to go to jail, but she then stated she wished to pursue charges against her son and his wife.
The police report added that the Internal Revenue Service advised that Schmidt’s mother did not pay her tax bill in 2020, 2021 and 2022. According to the report, Todd Schmidt should have taken care of those bills.
Additionally, Schmidt was frequently late in paying his mother’s water bills, and that the water at his mother’s home was turned off for non-payment in October 2019 and in May 2022.
The police reported stated that Todd Schmidt began changing the billing addresses on his mother’s bills from her residence to his own residence. He reportedly also used his own address for loans he opened in his mother’s name, without her knowledge.
According to Todd Schmidt’s sister, the estimated amounts that were either forged or stolen by Todd and Rita Schmidt from his mother’s accounts included: $42,000 in forged checks, $47,000 in Todd’s personal bills, and $62,000 in charge cards used by Todd. Schmidt reportedly also sold his mother’s car for $7,000, and was supposed to put the money into her account, but there is no record of him doing so. He reportedly also moved his mother’s pension to his personal account.
