Zwingle woman to serve 2 years for theft of meat

A Zwingle woman who helped steal and sell thousands of pounds of processed meat was sentenced to two years in federal prison Monday in U.S. District Court..

Patricia Patterson, 43, pleaded guilty in February to theft by fraud of property valued in excess of $1,000 from semi-trailers owned by a Minnesota trucking company.

Patterson admitted at the pleading that she stole and aided and abetted the theft of meat from interstate trucking shipments in 2006 and 2007. The meat was resold to people in and around Dubuque.

Patterson was also ordered to pay $375,115 in restitution and required to forfeit several hundred acres of farmland to the United States.

She was released on a previously set bond and will self surrender to the Bureau of Prisons Sept. 1.

Patterson's husband James was previously sentenced to 2 years and three months in prison for his part in the thefts and her brother-in-law Lloyd Patterson, was also convicted and pending sentencing on related charges.