EDWARDSVILLE, IL (KMOX)-The Madison County State’s Attorney has filed charges against the two women accused of stealing food from The Community Hope Center in Cottage Hills. 45-year-old Jerri Jones of Godfrey and 64-year-old Betty Jones of Alton have
been charged with stealing over $500 dollars worth of food the center.

Our earlier story:

COTTAGE HILLS, IL (KMOX) – Two volunteers at a Cottage Hills  food pantry are expected to be charged Thursday with stealing food that had been donated to the facility.

A neighbor spotted the women unloading a Community Hope Center truck at the Alton home of one of the suspects. Center Executive Director Lyn Cloninger says when they did it a second time police were watching.

Cloninger tells KMOX the two women were “great” volunteers, “They were very eager to help, of course now I realize why they were so eager. They were very helpful and cooperative and did a good job for us, other than the fact they were stealing from us.”

Cloninger says that like all of the center’s 150 volunteers, the two did have references from a church when they were hired. They began working at the center in July.

Cloninger says they don’t know how much was stolen but from now on they’ll keep better track of exactly what food is loaded onto the trucks.