RED LAKE COUNTY, Minn. — A Great Falls, Montana, woman was granted a stayed sentence Wednesday, Aug. 27, for felony theft by swindling more than $500,000 from the Red Lake County Co-op.

Stephanie Michele Nipp, 56, gave an Alford plea to the crime in July. An Alford plea is a guilty plea used by someone who wants to maintain their innocence but acknowledges there's enough evidence that if they took the case to trial, they would be convicted.

Nipp's other felony charge, receiving stolen property, was dismissed.

She was arrested in January after a Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension investigation identified her as a suspect in a wire fraud case, according to a probable cause statement filed in the case. The investigation began in October 2024 after a Red Lake County Co-op general

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