In new court documents, prosecutors say a former administrator of the Knox County jail diverted more than $200,000 in cash and currency deposited in kiosks for inmate commissary accounts that should have been transferred to a bank account maintained by the jail.
Louis A. Glossip, 46, faces nine felony charges stemming from the alleged theft, which happened over a six-year period from 2017 to 2023.
The charges include two counts of theft over $100,000, one count of theft between $10,000 and $100,000, one count of forgery, and five counts of official misconduct.
The new court documents and federal investigative reports reviewed by TSPR reveal additional details about the scope of the theft and how it occurred.
‘Reverse ATMs’
Glossip worked for the Knox County State’s Attorney’s Office before moving to the jail in 2012. From 2015 to 2023, he was the jail’s administrator, responsible for operations, safety, and third-party contracts for food and inmate services.
When federal and state investigators sat down with Glossip in October 2023 to discuss the jail’s commissary system, he described the kiosks as “reverse ATMs.”
Any cash or currency people had on them when being booked into the jail was deposited into a kiosk and automatically credited to a detainee’s commissary account through the jail’s commissary vendor, TurnKey Corrections.
Friends and family of people detained could also deposit cash and currency into a kiosk in the lobby of jail, a method that avoided the fees of using an app to load commissary accounts with a credit card.
People detained at the jail could then use their commissary accounts to buy food and hygiene supplies, make phone calls, or use texting and email services — all through the commissary vendor.
According to court documents, Glossip was the sole jail employee responsible for removing cash from the jail kiosks, for depositing those funds in a bank account operated by the jail, and for keeping an accurate accounting of the jail’s commissary system.
Between 2017 and 2023, more than $200,000 in cash deposited in jail kiosks was never deposited in the bank account, according to court documents.
The discrepancy is the amount Glossip is accused of diverting for personal use during that time period, and prosecutors say he acted alone.
TSPR previously reported that the jail’s commissary system exists outside the county treasury. According to court documents, Glossip was the only jail employee with access to the account.
Glossip allegedly committed forgery in 2023 when he entered more than $200,000 into the TurnKey accounting system to reconcile it.
According to court documents, that happened as TurnKey was upgrading its accounting software and recommended that jails reconcile their commissary accounts prior to the upgrade.
Commissary proceeds meant for detainee welfare
Because the commissary system automatically credited the cash deposits to inmate accounts, people detained at the jail were able to use their funds.
The alleged theft of over $200,000 instead affected the jail’s commissary bank account, which was used to pay TurnKey Corrections and also held the jail’s profits from the commissary.
According to court documents, TurnKey periodically billed the jail for the amount of commissary items ordered by inmates. The jail would pay the vendor from the bank account, minus the jail’s commission.
Under state statute, county jails may generate profits from operating commissaries but the net profits are required to be used for the benefit of people detained.
For example, the statute allows commissary profits to be used for education, recreation, or other purposes benefitting detainees, as deemed appropriate by the sheriff.
What’s next in the court case
The Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 2 assisted the FBI Quad Cities office with the investigation before the case was turned over to Knox County State’s Attorney Ashley Worby.
Initial charges were filed Feb. 27, with amended and additional misconduct charges filed April 8.
Worby is prosecuting the case with co-counsel Nemura Pencyla of the Illinois Attorney General’s Public Integrity Bureau, which handles cases involving misconduct by government employees.
Glossip’s defense attorneys, Elisa Nelson and Andrew Stuckart, have filed a motion for a bill of particulars. They’re asking a judge to require prosecutors to provide the date and time of each alleged theft, the method or means of each theft, and other details about the case.
In her response, Worby asked the judge to deny the motion.
She argues the charging documents, amended information, and voluminous discovery already turned over to the defense is “more than sufficient” for the defendant to prepare for trial.
Judge Andrew Doyle is set to rule on the motion for a bill of particulars at 11 a.m. Wednesday, July 1.
Glossip has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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