Two charged with contempt for delinquent restitution payments

Two defendants failed to appear for hearings in the Antelope County district court in Neligh last week on contempt motions filed by Antelope County Attorney Joe Smith on Feb. 22, for alleged failure to pay restitution ordered at their sentencings. Both had made recent payments. The Honorable James Kube noted the women’s failure to appear and left the matters to Smith’s discretion whether to file affidavits for arrest warrants or to schedule show-cause hearings in April.

Megan Brandt, 37, of Oakdale was convicted in 2015 of theft by unlawful taking and, in addition to a prison sentence, ordered to pay $25,186.37 in restitution to the Village of Oakdale and costs of prosecution by Jan. 1, 2018. Although she was ordered at hearings in 2020, 2021 and 2022 to make monthly $500 payments, only two payments had been filed since a hearing in March 2022, the last on March 26. Court documents show a balance of $17,571 remains outstanding.

Jessica T. Mace, of Geneva was ordered by Kube on March 29, 2019, also in addition to a prison sentence, to pay $8,598.48 restitution and $148 costs for her conviction of theft by deception. Despite a 2021 order to pay $50 monthly, court records show Mace made one internet payment this year, on March 29, one payment in 2022 and four in 2021, with $7,517 outstanding.