ASPEN, Colo.—A former employee of Grand Junction FCU, originally sentenced to a halfway house for embezzling $60,000 from the credit union, has been handed a tougher sentence.
Jessica Sorensen was resentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison after failing to report for a job and her whereabouts were unknown, after which authorities classified her as an escapee. Sorensen, 42, had been sentenced to the Rifle halfway house, also known as community corrections, the Aspen Daily News reported.
Sorenson’s troubles started in 2013 when she was arrested for forging the signatures of members of the CU, based in Grand Junction, Colo. Police said she also switched money back and forth into accounts to make it appear she hadn’t taken the funds, and made a loan to herself, the Aspen Daily News reported.
In 2014, four days away from completing a 60-day jail sentence imposed after she pleaded guilty to three felony theft counts, she was caught trying to sneak vodka into jail using a water bottle. Sorensen had been serving the sentence through day reporting, which allows a person to leave jail for work and return in the evening, the newspaper noted.
Sorensen pleaded guilty to a probation violation and a misdemeanor count of introducing contraband. Four days before being sentenced for that, and resentenced to three years in the halfway house for the theft charges, Sorensen was arrested for check fraud in a Garfield County case in November 2014. That case remains pending, the newspaper said.
Prosecutor Andrea Bryan this week said Sorensen’s criminal history shows she is not deserving of another chance at community corrections. Judge Chris Seldin sentenced Sorenson to two, 42-month terms and another 36-month term in prison on the lesser theft charge, all to be served concurrently. Sorensen was given credit for 239 days of time served, the Aspen Daily News reported.