Woman spared prison for stealing from mom

A 28-year old Sandpoint woman with a penchant for stealing from her mother was handed a suspended sentence for to up to four years in prison on a charge of grand theft.

Stephanie A. Lethrud pled guilty to  the charge April 26 after being charged with grand theft and forgery for taking one of her mother, Valerie Lethrud's blank checks Nov. 10, 2009, and then forged the check and her mom's signature and passed it in the amount of $50 at Zip Trip later that day.

According to Boundary County Prosecutor Jack Douglas, Stephanie had forged as many as six of her mother's checks and taken food from her mom's freezer, but until the Nov. incident, mom hadn't filed charges. In the past year, she took as much as $900.

In a plea agreement, Douglas agreed to drop the forgery charge in exchange for a guilty plea to grand theft, a felony, saving the cost of taking the case to trial.

He recommended a two to four-year suspended sentence, a $300 fine, and two years probation, along with 30 days local jail time and that she repay her mother fully.

Judge Benjamin Simpson accepted the plea, and almost agreed with the state's sentencing recommendation, but upping the probationary period from two years to three and foregoing the local jail time, giving her credit for 43 days she'd already served. He also imposed $450 court costs, and granted her probation officer 90-days unscheduled jail time should she violate terms of her probation.