by April Scheinoha
Editor
A Montana woman was sentenced Wednesday, Aug. 27 in Red Lake County District Court for stealing over $570,000 via wire transfer from a local cooperative.
Stephanie Michele Nipp, 56, Great Falls, was sentenced for a felony charge of theft by swindle, according to online court documents. A felony charge of receiving stolen property was dismissed.
For the theft by swindle charge, Judge Anne Rasmusson sentenced Nipp to 42 months in prison stayed for five years. That is a double upward durational departure. As a condition of that sentence, Nipp was ordered to serve 290 days in jail. She was given credit for 192 days served, but court documents indicated there was no additional time to be served. Huber and Sentence to Serve privileges were granted. Nipp was ordered to serve 40 hours of community service or STS within 365 days in lieu of confinement. She was ordered to serve supervised probation for five years. Nipp was ordered to have no contact with the victim(s), including officers or directors of the cooperative. Nipp was ordered to not use or possess firearms, ammunition or explosives. She was ordered to provide a DNA sample. Nipp was ordered to pay $210 in fees and fines, and $573,818.75 in restitution.
On July 16, Nipp entered an Alford plea for the theft by swindle charge. In an Alford plea, a defendant doesn’t admit guilt, but the defendant admits there is evidence that would likely lead to a conviction.
The charges stemmed from a fraud investigation. On Oct. 17, a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension special agent was investigating the fraudulent wiring of $573,818.75 from Red Lake County Cooperative Inc. to an account at Bravera Bank in Great Falls. He sought the help of the Red Lake County sheriff’s investigator, who spoke with the cooperative’s general manager. According to the complaint, he informed him that she had been contacted by someone whom she thought was a Gales Design & Consulting employee on July 19, 2024. The cooperative had contracted with the firm to manage a project on its behalf. The “employee” had given her instructions to send payment to Sackett-Waconia, which was hired to assist with building and providing materials for the cooperative’s new agronomy facility. The email had been part of an existing email thread between the manager and the Gales Design employee. The manager wired the funds and the “employee” seemed to acknowledge that the firm had received the money on or about July 22, 2024.
On Aug. 30, 2024, the employee called the manager, seeking payment. The manager said she had already paid the bill after receiving an email from the employee. The employee said she hadn’t emailed the manager, and the incident was reported to the authorities. It was determined that the fraudulent wiring instructions led the manager to wire the funds to an account at Bravera Bank.
On Oct. 22, the special agent spoke with a Gales Design co-owner, who said his internal IT staff had launched an investigation. They found a phone number, which wasn’t associated with any employee, that could be used to authenticate log-ins to their computer system and access company email accounts.
The special agent later learned Nipp had opened a business checking account and a checking/money market account at Bravera Bank. While opening the accounts, she had provided a document of incorporation from the Montana Secretary of State’s Office for Sacket Waconia. Nipp was listed as the incorporator for the business, whose name was misspelled. She also provided a Social Security card and a copy of a Texas ID card. Nipp told a bank employee that the firm manufactured fertilizer equipment, and she was self-employed. She said she was residing in Montana with her kids. Nipp’s address matched the Secretary of State Office’s documentation that she provided to the bank.
Bank surveillance video allegedly depicted the interaction between Nipp and the bank employee. The Gales Design co-owner watched the surveillance video and said he doesn’t know her.
After the money was deposited into the business checking account, Nipp allegedly withdrew some of the money via checks issued by her to various people for various amounts. There were also two transactions with Apple.com. The account was closed Aug. 13, 2024, with a closing balance of $130.