Gambling Habit Led Minnesota Woman to Steal About $40K from Relief Fund

A 54-year-old North Star State woman will avoid prison house after repaying the around $40,000 she allegedly stole from the state’s William Lloyd Garrison Fire Department Relief Association. She has pleaded hangdog to deuce theft charges and admitted she used the money to gamble.

Under a plea bargain, Ted Shawn Marie Luedtke said utmost week she will repay the money. If she fails to pay the cash, she faces a condemn of 180 days inwards jail.

Luedtke must make $37,283 inward restoration and pay off $7,175 to an unnamed gaming manager who investigated the books and found the inconsistencies.

Plot Got Out of Hand

She had planned to compensate plunk for the money after allegedly stealing it. Luedtke told the local sheriff’s office that the strategy “got come out of hand.” But until the sheriff’s power got involved, no more money was paid back. Luedtke told authorities she “mentally kept a running track” of the alleged thefts.

The gaming manager discovered inconsistencies inwards the association’s books inward May 2019. He saw the issues when training a new worker.

The losses ranged from $1,671 to $7,476. They took put o'er 10 months. Soon, the manager told the young worker to written report the inconsistencies to the Crow Wing County Sheriff’s Office.

Luedtke said she got mired with the association’s bookkeeping after she assisted her husband with the accounting system for the assuagement association.

It was also revealed no I else was watching the association’s bank statements. So, the issues went unnoticed until the gaming manager noticed them.

Luedtke’s attorney had claimed $15,000 was sufficient to cover song the losses. The attorney so filed a postulation to gainsay $44,458 in restitution ordered by Crow Wing County District Judge Erik J. Askegaard. But the justice approved almost all of the hurt claims from the association.

Relief Association Fined

Earlier, the Minnesota Gambling Control Board (MGCB) fined the assuagement connection $2,697. It ruled the connexion did not set in put checks and balances to keep embezzlement, according to the Brainerd Dispatch, a local newspaper.

Askegaard ruled that Luedtke was non responsible for(p) for paying the connection support for the fine, the describe adds.

Defendant did non do this loss; but rather, Defendant’s actions caused the Gambling Control Board to get aware of the deficiencies in the victim’s ‘checks and balances processes’, and that is wherefore the amercement was assessed,” the adjudicate wrote inward his ruling.

The Garrison Fire Department Relief Association provides pension, disability, and expiry benefits to the department’s offer firefighters. Garrison is virtually 72 miles due north of St. Cloud, Minn.

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