She claimed to run a day care service in Ottawa with earnings of $100,000, but Ebony Green was actually a hairstylist earning a fraction of that. Yet she received a COVID-19 relief loan for almost $20,000.

Green, 29, of University Park, appeared Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court and entered a blind plea to theft, a Class 1 felony carrying a possible prison sentence of four to 15 years. Additional charges were dismissed.

In exchange for her plea, La Salle County prosecutors agreed to recommend no more than five years in prison when she is sentenced Jan. 29 before Circuit Judge Michelle A. Vescogni.

Green is one of six people facing felony charges after the Illinois Department of Revenue flagged some questionable applications for COVID-19 relief funds across the state. Two of the six have now pleaded guilty.

Assistant La Salle County State’s Attorney Matt Kidder said in open court Thursday that had Green’s case gone to trial, prosecutors were prepared to produce paperwork showing divergent income disclosures.

In March 2021, Kidder said, Green’s signature appeared on papers signifying that she was the proprietor of a day care service in Ottawa. In a companion filing, she disclosed earnings of $106,600. Based on those representations, she secured a $20,830 loan.

But other documents procured after investigators began sniffing around for fraudulent cases unearthed a separate disclosure in which Green said she was a hairstylist earning about 10% of what she’d claimed to make in the day care business.

Green will have an opportunity to make a statement when she stands for sentencing.

By the time Green is sentenced, Vescogni will have settled on a punishment for the first of the six suspects to reach a deal. Amanda K. Rogers, 34, of Ottawa previously entered a blind plea to Class 1 felony theft and will be sentenced Jan. 15. Prosecutors agreed to a five-year cap in her case, too.

Rogers admittedto applying for a government loan after submitting paperwork showing that she owned an Ottawa business (never named in the application) with gross profits over $100,000. Although Rogers was later found to own and operate no such business, the fraudulent claims resulted in her obtaining a loan for about $30,000.

Four other suspects have pending cases.

La Salle County State’s Attorney Joe Navarro announced felony charges against the six individuals after the Illinois Department of Revenue flagged some questionable applications for COVID-19 relief funds across the state.

Navarro said the charges were not the result of a conspiracy, per se, but the suspects “probably acted in concert,” and some of the documents bore similarities.