BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (STMW) – An employee of a south suburban currency exchange pilfered thousands of dollars in wire transfers, prosecutors charged Wednesday.

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Dennene Hawkins, 44, pretended that her customers at the Harlem and 159th Currency Exchange, 16018 S. Harlem Ave. in Tinley Park, were picking up larger amounts than they had been sent, prosecutors alleged.

And between Aug. 6 and Nov. 30, she pocketed the difference of several thousand dollars each time, for a total of $11,575, Cook County State’s Attorney’s office spokesman Andy Conklin said, citing court records.

The store apparently discovered the discrepancy in its accounting.

A woman who said she was the manager told the SouthtownStar she could not discuss the situation and referred calls to another supervisor, was out of the office, according to the woman who answered her line.

At the Bridgeview courthouse on Wedneday, bond for Hawkins was set at $20,000, Conklin said. She is charged with theft over $10,000, a Class 2 felony.

Hawkins, of 17536 S. Cypress Ave. in Country Club Hills, has no criminal history, he said.

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