Primghar, Iowa — The Pretrial Conference has been postponed in the case of a Paullina woman who is alleged to have defrauded a person for whom she was caring.
According to online court records, both the prosecution and the defense, in the case of 36-year old Rebecca Rutledge, have applied for a Pre-Sentence Investigation to be conducted prior to Rutledge’s Pretrial Conference, which had been scheduled for September 12th. Online court records indicate that her Pretrial Conference has been continued until 9:30 am on Monday, October 10th, in O’Brien County District Court at Primghar.
Rutledge’s trial has been set to commence on October 25th in Primghar, but there is no word on whether or not the continued Pretrial Conference will affect that.
Rutledge faces three counts of Forgery, one count of Theft 2nd degree and one count of Credit Card Fraud. All five of the charges are Class D felonies and each carry a maximum sentence of up to five years in prison and / or a $5000 fine.
According to O’Brien County Sheriff’s officials, the charges stem from their investigation into a complaint that Rutledge, who was working as an in-home health care worker for an elderly O’Brien County citizen, had gained access to the individual’s debit card and personal checking account and was allegedly using it for her own financial gain. The alleged criminal activity occurred between June of 2015 and September of 2015 and resulted in over $7500 in various transactions.
