Guilty plea in embezzlement

SANDPOINT — A Bonner County woman pleaded guilty Thursday to grand theft after a purported benefactor failed to bail her out of an embezzlement case.

Nicole Jody Lynn Love is scheduled to be sentenced in 1st District Court on July 16. She faces up to 14 years in prison, although a plea agreement is recommending a jail sentence and a suspended prison term.

Love, 35, is accused of embezzling from CityServiceValcon in Oldtown in 2010. She was working as an assistant manager for the Montana-based fuel distributor when the thefts occurred.

Love allegedly pocketed cash receipts instead of depositing them in a bank, according to court documents.

Although Love is accused of embezzling as much as $46,000 from the company, the amount of proposed restitution has fallen from $30,000 to $25,000, court records indicate.

A pretrial settlement agreement in the case is recommending up to 90 days in jail and a suspended prison sentence of three to five years.

Love’s jail sentence may have to be served in a sequence of nonconsecutive days because she is pregnant. It’s her second pregnancy since the felony charge against her emerged.

The agreement also recommends 200 hours of community service and five years of probation. The duration of her probation could be truncated if she is able to make restitution in less than five years.

First District Judge Steve Verby asked Love what she understood about the plea agreement.

“I understand I’m charged with grand theft and guilty of it,” Love responded.

Verby advised Love he was not bound by the sentencing recommendations and asked if she wished to go ahead with her plea. Love said she understood and entered the plea.