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Former Harris clerk receives sentenceBy Danielle Strenke Former Harris city clerk Bonnie Swanson will serve 120 days in jail for taking money from city accounts. Swanson received the sentence in a July 10 hearing at the Chisago County Courthouse, in the courtroom of Judge James Clifford. At a previous hearing in May, Swanson had entered a guilty plea to two charges of felony theft of over $2,500. In the plea agreement, two additional charges of theft of over $2,500 and one of theft over $500 were dropped. Swansonís sentence also includes 120 days in jail, ordered to begin July 29. She is required to make minimum monthly payments in restitution to the city of Harris, paying back almost $12,000 of the $57,000 discovered stolen by Swanson through a state audit. Judge Clifford also dismissed any further court fines and fees, telling Swanson he did not want to interfere with her ability to pay restitution to Harris. The county prosecutor said Swansonís methods were ìa methodical scheme of embezzlementî and it was obvious she was looking for ways to avoid detection by utilizing different ways of stealing the money. Judge Clifford added that Swanson committed ìa low-down form of theft.î ìIíve been through a number of public official theft cases and it is unfortunate because itís easy for people to come to the conclusion that public officials cannot be trusted.î Swansonís attorney argued against serving the full 120 days in jail, possibly reducing the sentence to include some work release. He also asked the court to reduce the charges from felonies to misdemeanors. ìMs. Swanson understands jail would be appropriate, but itís hard to get a job with a felony record,î he said. At one point, he inferred that if proper audits of the city of Harrisís books would have been completed, his clients thefts could have been discovered much earlier, ìbecause it gets easier as time goes on.î ìShe was hired with no experience and found herself overwhelmed. It became easy to tap into accounts,î he said. ìIf this would have been nipped in the bud earlier, it wouldnít have gotten so bad.î Before sentence was pronounced, Judge Clifford asked Swanson if she had anything to say. She responded: ìJust that I am sorry.î The maximum jail term for the two felony counts is one year and one day for each. Swanson will have the option of being released on the work release program, if she qualifies. She will also be on probation for ten years. Swanson resigned from her position as city clerk in December 2000 at a city council meeting. During the meeting, the cityís auditors had voiced concerns over accounting practices used when issuing checks through the cityís accounts, and had flagged several questionable checks that appeared to be fraudulent. Current Harris Mayor Richard Hanson, who did not take office until January 2001, said he was surprised at the outcome of the hearing. ìI didnít expect there would be any jail time,î he said. ìThe county attorney sent us a form to submit to list damages, and when it asked if we would request jail time, we said no.î Hanson said the city requested restitution for penalties and fees imposed by the IRS, for years of unpaid payroll taxes during Swansonís employment. He said Swanson did pay back more than $8,000 immediately after resigning. Harris was able to recoup some of the losses through insurance, but was not able to claim extensive auditing fees accrued during the course of the investigation. The city can move on now, Hanson said. ìWe just wanted our money back and we have to be satisfied with what we get.î ©ECM Post Review |