Bilking grain elevator costs South Dakota woman freedom, $39K
Bilking grain elevator costs South Dakota woman freedom, $39K
But former business manager avoids prison time
The former business manager of a northern South Dakota grain elevator will spend 60 days in jail and pay nearly $40,000 in restitution costs after being sentenced on an embezzlement conviction this week.
DeAnn Holzwarth of McIntosh has been sentenced to jail time and restitution after pleading guilty to stealing elevator funds from the McIntosh-Watauga Equity Exchange in McIntosh.
She was sentenced in Corson County Circuit Court Monday to 10 years in prison — all suspended, 60 days in jail, six years of probation, and ordered to pay $39,143 in restitution, according to the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office. The formal charge Holzwarth previously pled guilty to was Grand Theft by Embezzlement.
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The charges stemmed from a joint investigation by the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation and the State Public Utilities Commission, which led to the discovery that almost $50,000 in elevator funds had been misappropriated or misused between January 2016 and March 2020. Holzwarth was the elevator’s business manager from 2016 until 2021.
Why is it so easy for business managers of Grain Elevators to bilk receipts? In my life time I have witnessed 8-10 people getting caught doing this at the elevator at which they work .