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Eagle County Clerk & Recorder Employee Gets 2 Years In Prison For Embezzling

EAGLE, Colo. (CBS4) - A former Eagle County employee was sentenced to two years in a community corrections facility for embezzling from the county.

According to Tom Kelly with the Fifth Judicial District of Colorado, Brenda Wright, 55, embezzled $84,000 from the county. She was also ordered to pay restitution of more than $106,000 because of interest and other fees.

Wright pleaded guilty to theft between $20,000 and $100,000 in April.

The crime was discovered by her supervisor, Clerk and Recorder Teak Simonton last August.

"Wright used her position with the Clerk and Recorder's Office to gain access to public funds where she exchanged checks for cash that she took out of the till and then manipulated the daily accounting balances to reflect that no cash was ever received by the clerk's office," Kelly said in a statement.

Wright was employed by the Clerk and Recorder since 2007.

"Embezzlers eventually are caught and go to prison," said Fifth Judicial District Attorney Bruce Brown. "The defendant's actions in this case are another example of the futility of abusing access to employer funds and the price that will be paid for theft."

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