MASON CITY – A Nora Springs woman has entered a guilty plea in her third case of stealing from an employer.
Julie Ann Fingalsen, age 45 of Nora Springs, somehow keeps getting hired by men with professional titles and somehow keeps trying to take them to the cleaners.
In her latest alleged felonious pursuit, Fingalsen was working for Eastman Law Office in Clear Lake in February and March when she started cashing checks that were theirs, not hers, worth up to $5,000. Clear Lake cops got wise to her ruse and she was arrested on charges of felony forgery and second-degree theft. She was placed in a county jail cell and has remained there, held on $10,000 bond, as she entered a not-guilty plea.
Earlier this month, however, Fingalsen and her public defender entered a guilty plea to second-degree theft. The forgery charge will be dismissed. She now awaits a sentencing hearing on July 14.
Back in 2012, Fingalsen was involved in an embezzlement scheme at Dr. Michael Heston’s Optometry office in Mason City. After an extensive investigation, evidence was gathered that implicated Fingalsen in the embezzlement of over $40,000 from the business between February 2011 and September 2012. She later pleaded guilty to felony first-degree theft.
In 2009, Fingalsen was arrested and pleaded guilty to stealing over $20,000 from her former employer Dr. Gregory Shirk of Mason City.
Court records show that due to those two crimes, Fingalsen was sent to prison in May of 2013 and was paroled on July 2, 2014, having served a grand total of about 14 months of a ten year prison sentence.
