Former Notre Dame administrator pleads guilty to theft of $199K

ST. JOSEPH COUNTY, Ind. -- The former administrator of the Notre Dame Law School Clinical Law Center pleaded guilty to 11 counts related to the theft of $199,000 from the clinic and altering documents to hide the theft.

The court conditionally accepted Jennifer Ihns' plea.

She will be sentenced April 13.

Ihns pleaded guilty to:

• One count of corrupt business influence
• Four counts of theft, class D felony
• Five counts of theft, level 6 felony
• One count of forgery

As part of the agreement, she must pay restitution to Notre Dame in the amount of $199,000.

While working as the administrator for the clinic, Ihns wrote 129 checks from the clinic's operating account totaling $82,275.23 and 126 checks from the Interest on Lawyer Trust Account totaling $96,300.80, according to the probable cause affidavit.

The checks were written over the course of seven years, between January 2009 and June 2016.

Investigators said Ihns hid the theft by altering images of returned checks.