Laundromat worker sentenced for stealing $10,000 from machines.

Teresa Pless-Brandt and attorney Timothy Hayes.

Laundromat worker sentenced for stealing $10,000 from machines.

#OceanaCountyCrime

By Allison Scarbrough, Editor.

HART – A 48-year-old Hesperia woman who worked at the Hesperia Laundromat was sentenced to 30 days in jail and $10,000 in restitution Monday, Oct. 7, in 27th Circuit Court for a conviction of breaking and entering a coin-operated device.

Teresa Lee Pless-Brandt, of 9135 Fox Rd., pleaded guilty in August.

Pless-Brandt testified that she used a key to steal quarters out of the washers and dryers for several months beginning in mid-January of this year.

In exchange for her plea, two other counts of breaking and entering a coin-operated device were dismissed. Sentencing guidelines in the case are zero to one month, said Oceana County Prosecutor Joseph Bizon. The charge is punishable by up to three years in prison.

She also ordered to one year of probation.

“How did you get caught?” previously asked Judge Robert D. Springstead. “The police put in cameras,” Pless-Brandt replied.

She was arrested by the Hesperia Police Department.

Pless-Brandt’s attorney Timothy Hayes asked Judge Springstead for Pless-Brandt to serve her jail time on weekends, so she can work. The judge allowed it.

“I have a good job,” Pless-Brandt said. “It’s really hard to find employment when you’ve admitted guilt to theft of a former employer. I am extremely sorry for what I did. I would like to apologize publicly to Mr. (Scott) Rumsey for betraying his trust.”

Springstead asked Pless-Brandt how she planned to pay back the $10,000 restitution. “I get a large tax refund every year to pay a lot of it back,” she said. She also vowed to pay $100 per week.

She received credit for two days served in jail.

The judge ordered payments of $400 per month until her tax refund is received. If the tax refund doesn’t pay the entire restitution, then payments will continue.

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