In the United States, more than a half a million children are identified as victims of abuse or neglect every year. They say life is a deck of cards. Well, these kids have been dealt a bad hand. And the croupier dealing out the cards to the kids in South Dakota would be Lonna Carroll, who used her position at the Department of Social Services to steal more than $1.7 million from the program that provided basic needs to children at risk.
When a child is deemed to be at risk due to abuse or neglect and placed in state custody, employees of the State of South Dakota’s Child Protection Services can make financial requests on the child’s behalf – items such as school supplies, clothing or even a bed. Upon department approval, the funds released for the child’s basic needs are deposited into a bank account in the child’s name. Carroll formerly worked as an administrative assistant for Child Protection Services and submitted over two hundred and fifteen fraudulent financial requests on behalf of children that were no longer in the state’s care. She would deposit the funds into accounts opened under their names, but then immediately withdraw the money for her own personal use.
Carroll’s schemes were discovered by a department employee after Carroll had retired and moved to Iowa. But the proof was in the purchases. Investigators discovered a storage unit in Pierre, S.D., associated with Carroll, that had boxes full of receipts for expensive clothing.
On July 2, 2025, Carroll was sentenced to 13 years in prison.
Great job by the Department of Health and Human Services in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Stolen Identity, Iowa woman sentenced to 13 years in prison for stealing $1.78 million from South Dakota” published by The Des Moines Register on July 2, 2025.
Lonna Carroll, 68 of Algona, Iowa, is a former administrative assistant for the South Dakota Department of Social Services, who was convicted on two felony counts of aggravated grand theft from the department’s Child Protective Services. She was convicted in April 2025 for the theft, which occurred from 2010 to 2023, according to prior news releases.
Carroll moved to Iowa after retiring, according to South Dakota Searchlight. She was accused of submitting fraudulent requests on behalf of children after they left the state’s care, depositing the money into accounts opened in their names and taking the cash for herself, Searchlight reported. Prosecutors alleged she did that a total of 215 times during her employment, stealing $1,777,665.73.
