New accord reached in theft case

SANDPOINT — Confidential negotiations have yielded another agreement in the case of a Kootenai woman accused of embezzling from Coldwater Creek and a foundation that benefits the Lake Pend Oreille School District.

But the terms of the pact in Susan Alene Hopkins’ felony theft case remain filed under seal while the state and the defense try to find common ground on the matter of restitution.

The terms of the mediated agreement were not divulged during a brief hearing on Monday in 1st District Court, where a schedule for restitution hearings was roughed out.

After the hearing, Hopkins said she was not at liberty to discuss the case. Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon does not discuss pending criminal cases with the media.

It remains unclear how the latest agreement compares with an agreement that was struck earlier this year. It is also unclear if the parties are asking Judge Steve Verby to essentially guarantee that he will adopt the proposed terms.

The former agreement recommended up to three months in jail and a suspended prison term. Hopkins also agreed to pay $251,943 restitution to Coldwater Creek and the Panhandle Alliance For Education.

But District Judge Steve Verby balked at adopting the agreement amid lingering questions regarding Hopkins’ culpability. Although she consented to the amount of restitution, Hopkins disputed that she was indeed responsible for such an amount.

The court also questioned a three-month jail term in light of prison sentence that was imposed earlier this year in a relatively comparable embezzlement case in Boundary County.

Hopkins sentencing was put on hold and the case was ordered into civil mediation, which produced the second agreement.

Hopkins, 54, is accused of making scores of unauthorized purchases on a corporate expense account while employed as an executive assistant for the retailer from 2006-2010. She was further accused of misappropriating funds belonging to PAFE, a cause which Coldwater Creek strongly supports.