Woman convicted of headstone theft by deception after plea deal

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) - Kelly Lepler agreed to a plea deal Tuesday in her theft by deception case stemming from allegations that she took customers’ money for headstones and failed to deliver them.

As part of the agreement, the state dismissed 43 of the original charges. Lepler pleaded no contest to three remaining counts and is now convicted of all three counts.

Hall County Attorney Marty Klein said the case took considerable time to reach this point due to competency proceedings.

“The restoration, the competency, so that way she’s able to understand the proceedings, that took a long time, and then she finally was deemed to be competent to stay in trial, and then we started the negotiation process again,” Klein said. “It just took us a while to get through all that before we could have some decent conversation on how to try to resolve the case.”

Klein said taking the case to trial carried risk, as Lepler could have argued she simply needed more time to fulfill the headstone orders.

“This case is one where Kelly, I would assert to you, likely insist that if given time, she would have been able to honor every one of those contracts,” Klein said. “There’s some question as to whether we would be able to prove that she intended to permanently deprive these individuals of those headstones or those monuments. Now, I do believe that we would have been able to convince a jury the evidence shows that she intended to permanently deprive them.”

Klein said the plea deal removes that uncertainty.

“A plea deal guarantees certainty,” Klein said. “She’s convicted of three felonies now, and I think that’s important that she be convicted of those felonies based on her actions.”

Klein said sentencing is now at the judge’s discretion, with Lepler’s limited criminal history and victim impact statements among the factors to be considered.

“Ultimately, the judge has the ability to sentence how the judge thinks the case should be sentenced,” Klein said. “He takes into account the considerations, the background of Ms. Lepler, and she doesn’t have any criminal history, or very little. He takes that into account. He takes into account the statements that he’s likely going to read from the victims impacted by this. This is a very difficult thing that these victims went through.”

Klein said the court has the ability to sentence Lepler to up to nine years in prison or place her on probation for up to 15 years.

“The court also has the ability to put her on probation for up to 15 years,” Klein said. “He can put her on five years of probation and run that consecutive for each count, so that could be up to 15 years.”

Klein said he kept victims informed throughout the process. According to court records, prosecutors will not request additional jail time but will argue for the maximum amount of post-release supervision.

The state will also request full restitution of more than $266,000, an amount subject to change. The exact figure will be determined at sentencing.

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