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Former University of Iowa employee pleads guilty to lesser charge in carpet theft
Associated Press
Feb. 28, 2012 10:05 am
A former University of Iowa employee has received a deferred judgment under a plea agreement settling charges that she sold surplus carpet for cash.
Christine Douglas entered a guilty plea to third-degree theft last week and was ordered to pay a $625 fine and $250 restitution to UI. The misdemeanor will be erased from her record if she stays out of trouble for one year.
Police say the Coralville woman sold 1,000 square feet of carpet for $500 that the university bought for a trade show Douglas helped organize. Another employee reported its potential theft.
Douglas entered an Alford plea, in which she acknowledged there was evidence to convict her but didn't admit wrongdoing. Defense attorney Davis Foster says there was a misunderstanding about what to do with the carpet.
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