The former Hickory Creek Elementary School receptionist who reportedly stole students' P-EBT (pandemic electronic benefit transfer) cards was sentenced Thursday morning.
Ruthann McInnis appeared in front of Judge Matthew D. Cowan in a special session of Warren County Court in the Cannon County Courthouse Thursday morning. Due to a conflict of interest, General Sessions Judge Ryan J. Moore could not oversee this hearing.
McInnis entered a plea of judicial diversion for two counts of fraudulent use of a credit/debit card. She received a sentence of two consecutive 11 months 29 days for an effective two-year sentence on supervised probation, ordered to pay restitution to the victims plus court costs and received a restraining order from Hickory Creek Elementary School for two years as a condition of probation.
McInnis was charged with two counts of fraudulent use of a credit card last November and received two more fraud charges at the beginning of this year. In November of 2022, a parent filed a report with the McMinnville Police Department regarding her son’s P-EBT card being used fraudulently. According to Detective Katelyn Cannon, one of the parents was wondering why she did not receive her child’s card so she called and was informed it was being used.
During the investigation, Cannon pulled the P-EBT records and found there were 20 separate transactions between the dates of Jan. 10, 2022 and Nov. 15, 2022. The amount used on the card was $773.10. The card was reportedly used at Kroger and video surveillance identified McInnis as the user.
After interviewing McInnis, she admitted to using another student’s card. This card was used from Feb 16, 2022 to Nov. 18, 2022, spending a total of $477.51. While checking the mail at the school in January of 2022, McInnis reportedly found two P-EBT cards and put them in her drawer.
She received additional charges in January 2023 when two other parents notified Cannon that their children’s P-EBT cards had been used. These children were also Hickory Creek students. Cannon pulled the transactions from those two cards and found one had been used 17 times between Nov. 22, 2021 and March 1, 2022. The amount totaled $773.81. The other card had been used for 10 transactions between Aug. 6, 2021 and Sept. 23, 2022. These transactions totaled $371.83.
