COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) – A judge says a Nebraska woman must pay back $260,000 she took from her former employer in Iowa. The Daily Nonpareil reports that Beth Beutler, of Waterloo, Nebraska, was sentenced Tuesday after pleading guilty to charges of theft and ongoing criminal activity. Several other counts were dropped in exchange for her pleas. She was given a suspended prison sentence of 25 years, a jail sentence of 60 days and five years of probation.
Police say Beutler used a checking machine to withdraw thousands of dollars. The machine lets truck drivers access funds from across the country by giving clerks at truck stops an authorization code to pay for fuel, services or get cash. Police say Beutler got the authorization codes while working at McMullen Brothers Trucking in Carter Lake.