District Court, Kandiyohi County, Sept. 30
n Nancy Orvelia Zometa, 21, of Willmar, was sentenced Monday to five years of probation on a felony charge for offering a forged check.
She was also ordered to serve 150 days in jail, starting with 15 days to be served immediately, pay $5,800 in restitution, serve 50 hours of community work service, write an apology letter, and attend a property crime impact panel. The remaining 135 days of jail time can be deferred if she is compliant with other conditions of probation.
The charge was filed after a Willmar Police detective was contacted by a US Bank fraud investigator on April 18 regarding an investigation into three Discover card checks that had been forged on a woman's account for $5,800. The checks had been written to three different people in December and January. The investigator had revealed that Zometa, a bank employee, had done the forgery. In an interview, she admitted to forging the woman's name and the names of each of the payees. She said she didn't know any of them, and had picked names as they approached her in her window to cash checks. She also knew they had enough money in their account to cover the forged checks. Zometa said she took the money and spent it and that she got the checks when they were mistakenly mailed to her apartment.
- Tara Lynn Strack, 21, of Little Falls, pleaded guilty Monday to a felony fifth-degree controlled substance charge.
As part of a plea agreement, two misdemeanors for driving after suspension and not providing proof of insurance, plus a petty misdemeanor for drug paraphernalia were dismissed. She will receive a stay of adjudication on her sentence. Sentencing is Nov. 12.
The charges were filed after Willmar police stopped her car for speeding around 7:30 p.m. Sept. 23, 2007, along Lakeland Drive. Officers determined that her license was suspended for unpaid fees and that she was not able to provide proof of insurance. A substance, that later tested positive for methamphetamine, was found in her wallet and a glass pipe was found in the vehicle.