NICOLLET — A former Nicollet Public Schools employee was given three years of probation and is to pay restitution after previously pleading guilty to embezzling funds from the district.
Lisa Bode, 58, of Winthrop, also will serve two weekends in jail to complete her sentencing, which was ordered Tuesday by Judge Allison Krehbiel in Nicollet County District Court.
Robin Courrier, the district’s superintendent, said after Bode’s sentencing that the former payroll and human resources clerk will pay $17,962.13 in restitution over three years.
“I think it’s fair,” Courrier said. “I do believe that this was the first time that she did something like this, and that she is apologetic and I believe that it will be lesson learned, so I understand why the judge gave her as light of a sentence as she did.”
A criminal complaint alleged Bode overpaid herself by more than $32,000 over a two-year period from 2021 to 2023. It described her as using the money for recreational purposes.
The Nicollet School Board terminated her employment in June 2023.
Courrier said she believes the embezzlement took place because there were a lot of changes taking place over a two- to three-year period after COVID in that office.
“Just for the sake of efficiency and convenience, the protocol was limited to just one person. That can’t happen again, and I’m confident that that’s not how it was prior to COVID,” she said, also explaining procedures that will prevent this from recurring.
“We have checks and balances in place. There’s two signatures on every invoice, mine and the business manager’s or the business manager’s administrative assistant, instead of just one person managing that,” she said.
Details in the complaint against Bode include accusations of her getting paid for 3,037 hours while working 2,246 hours between March 2021 and June 2023. One timecard in December 2022 reportedly showed payment for 396 hours worked and 96 hours actually worked, equaling an extra $5,583 in wages.
The complaint states Bode told investigators she got approval for work done off hours. This work reportedly included adding on one hour for every text, email or phone call received.
Other alleged overpayments came from her claiming a pay increase including backpay, which a supervisor denied agreeing to.
Other times Bode claimed substitute teacher pay for times she sat in on classrooms in a teacher’s absence, the complaint states. She wasn’t a licensed substitute, and school staff accused her of claiming a full-day’s wage in some cases despite not sitting in for full days.