Written by
The Associated Press
FERGUS FALLS, Minn. - A former business manager for a rural western Minnesota school district has been sentenced for stealing about $300,000 from the district.
Forty-four-year-old Liane Claassen of Chokio was sentenced Thursday in federal court to a year and a half in prison on one count of wire fraud. She also was ordered to pay more than $263,000 in restitution.
Claassen pleaded guilty last July. In her plea agreement, she admitted that between July 1999 through August 2010, she used the Chokio-Alberta School District's computer to pay herself more than her salary allowed.
Claassen also admitted illegally transferring money into her retirement account.
Her actions were uncovered when the district hired a new auditing firm.
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