The Washington PostDemocracy Dies in Darkness

A superintendent used her son’s insurance to help a sick student. She just resigned.

February 4, 2019 at 3:26 p.m. EST
Casey Smitherman has been put on a pretrial diversion program, meaning that if she is not charged in any other incident, charges including official misconduct and identity deception will be expunged from her record. (YouTube screengrab/Casey Smitherman screengrab from YouTube video by Time.)

The superintendent of a small school district in Indiana has resigned after she took a sick student to the doctor and paid for his treatment with her son’s insurance last month, resulting in a felony insurance fraud charge, police said.

Casey Smitherman was arrested in January on charges including official misconduct and identity deception, then released on bail, according to court records. At the time, she was the superintendent of Elwood Community School Corporation in Elwood, Ind., a town of about 8,500, about 45 miles north of Indianapolis.