By Chris Hayes

Four women are accused of forging documents that allegedly got them big paychecks from a Clayton business. Court records say the fraud scheme netted hundreds of thousands of dollars for unworked hours.

It’s Elite Medical Staffing Group on Clayton Road, which offers thousands of expert nurses for medical centers across St. Louis.

Court records indicate the company reported to Clayton Police that employees who had submitted time sheets for hours never worked.

Investigators say the women were claiming they’d worked at a Maryland Heights senior living center and a Troy, Missouri, senior living center, and that the alleged forged time sheets made it appear as if a supervisor had signed off on the hours.

A spokesperson for Elite Medical Staffing said the company has reimbursed the senior living centers for any losses, and it’s pressing charges against the former employees to the “fullest extent of the law.”

The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office is now handling the case.

Tereatha L. Robinson, 48, is charged with felony stealing and forgery. She’s accused of taking more than $15,147.02 without doing the work.

Lacandish Seiber, 36, is charged with felony forgery and accused of taking $45,679.25 without doing the work.

Doreka Grant, 41, faces a felony forgery charge and is accused of taking $15,874.08 without doing the work.

Rochelle D. Kates, 52, is charged with felony stealing and forgery. She’s accused of taking $141,130.52 without doing the work.

“How many don’t get caught? As somebody who just got health insurance, it’s kind of like, wow; there are actually people not doing this out of the goodness of their heart,” Nick Hagenhoff said.

Alyessa Rideout said she’s thankful for the police resources it took to find out.

“It takes a lot of hours to go through all of that and be able to catch those mistakes,” she said. “My mom actually did that for an in-home company previously—audited their hours—and it’s weirdly common for people to lie about their hours in health care for some reason.”

Elite Medical Staffing Group added that the suspects in this case “…are not representative of the majority of our staff (who are) highly qualified, hard-working health care professionals, and we are grateful to them for their honorable representation.”