Wessington Springs Man Sentenced In Federal Court

A 31-year-old Wessington Springs man has been sentenced in Federal Court to a year of jail and three months supervised probation for taking a gift card from the mail intended for someone else in December of 2009. Loren Stuefen used the 150-dollar Visa gift card at three Wessington Springs area businesses. In addition, six random check blanks were stolen from pick-up truck used by Stuefen and his employer. The checks were filled out and the employer’s name was forged on them. The checks were cashed in January 2010 and totaled three-thousand-555 dollars. A third individual who lost his credit card in Sioux Falls had the card used 19 times in Wessington Springs and Huron. Those charges total around 700-dollars. The US Attorney’s Office says Stuefen shared in the fruits of those purchases. Stuefen was facing charges of Mail Fraud and Obstruction of Correspondence, but only pleaded guilty to the Obstruction of Correspondence charge in March. In addition to the jail time and supervised release, Stuefen must repay over 44-hundred dollars of restitution and a one-hundred dollar special assessment to the Victims Assistance fund