WILLMAR -- The Willmar Area Food Shelf is seeking almost $1,700 in restitution from its former executive director, who was convicted in September of stealing from the food shelf.
During a restitution hearing Monday in Kandiyohi County District Court, Assistant County Attorney Stephen Wentzell called several witnesses to testify that the agency incurred the debts because of the actions of Victoria Tews, 38, of Raymond.
John Bergman, president of the food shelf board, told the court that the agency had additional costs including a $250 deductible on its insurance, plus $650 in accounting and attorney's fees and approximately $800 in employee salaries paid for time the new executive director and another employee spent meeting with police and attorneys and sorting and copying documents.
The agency wouldn't have incurred the costs, including wages for time spent on meetings instead of providing food for clients, if Tews hadn't stolen from the food shelf, Bergman said.
"They (the employees) had to take off from their normal duties to go through the records," he said.
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Tews was convicted in a September jury trial of four counts of misdemeanor theft for making unauthorized charges on the food shelf's accounts at local grocery stores. She was sentenced Oct. 29 to 20 days in jail, 80 hours of community service, a $200 fine and a year of probation.
In April 2006, Tews, who was then known as Victoria Tews-Burdorf, was charged with five felony theft charges for making unauthorized charges for groceries and gift cards at Willmar's Cash Wise and Cub Foods stores between May 2003 and August 2005. The original affidavit for restitution filed by the food shelf was for more than $17,000, including $13,992.76 from the store invoices, $1,433.50 for an internal investigation, $171.50 in lawyer fees and an additional $1,405.67 in store charges.
Tews' attorney, Ralph Daby, noted that his client had filed an affidavit asking that the jury be impaneled to decide the restitution amount. He also told the court that the food shelf received $15,152 from the agency's insurance agency, information that was not allowed to be presented in the jury trial.
The agency has been more than compensated by the insurance money, Daby argued, which he said could even be considered a windfall.
Judge Donald M. Spilseth gave the attorneys two weeks to file briefs in the case, plus another four days to file responses. A ruling would come after those documents are filed with the court.
