Whitney Young High School employee removed after alleged inappropriate interaction with student

An employee at Whitney Young Magnet High School on the Near West Side has been removed from the school following an allegation that the worker interacted inappropriately with a student, according to officials.

Principal Joyce Kenner made the announcement Friday in a message sent to students and parents at the school and said the incident was under investigation by the Office of the Inspector General for Chicago Public Schools.

Kenner said the parents of the student had been contacted but said she could provide no other information, including whether the incident allegedly happened on the school’s campus at 211 S. Laflin St.

The Office of Student Protections and Title IX are providing additional resources to the student, Kenner said. A final determination about whether the subject of the investigation will return to the school was still pending. Matthew Hendrickson

Elgin church employee made $250K in unauthorized purchases on church credit cards: prosecutors

A church employee in Elgin allegedly made more than $250,000 in unauthorized payments with church credit cards, prosecutors say.

Jeffery L. Parham, 38, of Elgin, allegedly took two credit cards belonging to Harvest Bible Chapel, in the 1000 block of Randall Road, the Kane County state’s attorney’s office said in a statement.

Between July 2017 and October 2018,

Parham allegedly used the cards to make $262,056 in unauthorized purchases, prosecutors said.

Church officials contacted Elgin police in October 2018 after finding bookkeeping irregularities, prosecutors said. Parham worked at the church and has been on leave since October 2018.

He was arrested Thursday in Bourbonnais and taken to Elgin.

Parham is charged with two felony counts of theft and two felony counts of theft by deception, prosecutors said.

He was released after posting a $5,000 bail and is due in court again April 3. David Struett

2 charged in shooting of 16-year-old girl on N.W. Side

Two people face charges after a 16-yearold girl was shot and wounded Wednesday in Montclare on the Northwest Side.

Juan Jimenez, 18, and a 17-year-old boy charged as a juvenile each face a felony count of aggravated battery with a firearm, Chicago police said.

The girl was shot in the back seat of a Ford SUV about 9:25 p.m. in the 6900 block of West Belden Avenue, police said.

Someone pulled up in a white Nissan and fired shots into the Ford, hitting the girl in the shoulder, police said. She was taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition.

Jimenez and the 17-year-old were arrested shortly after the shooting, police said.

Jimenez was also wanted on two warrants. David Struett