Montevideo, Minnesota, woman to serve probation for $91,000 theft

Tom Cherveny, West Central Tribune, Willmar, Minn.
·3 min read

Jan. 5—MONTEVIDEO

— A Montevideo woman received stayed prison sentences and probation for using a company's credit cards and PayPal accounts to make an estimated $91,062.62 in unauthorized transactions.

Amanda Jean Smith, 49, pleaded guilty Aug. 8 in Chippewa County District Court in Montevideo to two amended charges per a plea agreement. She pleaded guilty to one count of felony theft and one count of felony theft — divert corporate property. The original charges were financial transaction card fraud and theft by swindle. A third charge of identity theft was dismissed.

Smith entered an Alford plea. While treated as any other guilty plea, a defendant who enters an Alford plea does not admit guilt but agrees the state's evidence is sufficient for a jury to render a guilty verdict at trial.

The court sentenced her Nov. 28 to concurrent prison sentences of 12 months and one day on the theft charge and 21 months on the theft — divert corporate property charge. The court stayed the sentences for five years, during which time she will serve supervised probation. If she is compliant with probation, she will not have to serve the prison time.

The concurrent sentences require that Smith serve 60 days in jail each year of the five-year probation period but she is allowed to defer the jail time provided she makes $1,500 in restitution payments each month until full restitution is made — one of several conditions attached to her probation. She also must complete a mental health evaluation and write a letter of apology among other requirements.

Judge Thomas Van Hon in a written order denied her request to defer the jail segment that began Jan. 1, and he set a scheduling conference for Jan. 30 on Smith's demand for a restitution hearing.

A civil lawsuit filed by the company against the defendant and others is currently pending in the court and scheduled for a March 4 pretrial hearing.

According to the complaint, an owner of Mind Your Business reported to the Montevideo Police Department that Smith's employment with the business had been terminated in April 2021 because she was suspected of making false paperwork in their system and using one of their supply chain credit cards.

She had been working for the business since November 2015. An investigation by the business owners led them to believe that unauthorized PayPal account transactions began in 2018 when Smith transitioned into working in payroll.

According to the allegations, an investigation by the company found instances of misuse of the credit card for SpecSys, a separate company with the same owner as Mind Your Business. Smith did not have authority to use the card and would have no involvement with using it, according to the complaint.

An investigator with the Montevideo Police Department developed a spreadsheet after reviewing accounting reports and subpoenaed reports for transactions from the financial accounts and businesses. The spreadsheet listed unauthorized transactions occurring from about July 2016 through April 2021 and, with adjustments, totaled approximately $91,062.62, according to the criminal complaint.

Court records show that Smith was convicted in 2013 for financial transaction card fraud.