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2nd ex-employee sentenced for credit card scam at hotel

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November 6th, 2019 by Ric Hanson

SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Another former employee has been given probation for using guests’ credit cards for a scam at a Sioux City hotel. Woodbury County court records say 36-year-old Sandra Lalumendre was sentenced Monday to 10 years in prison, suspended, and five years of probation. She’d pleaded guilty to one felony count of theft. Prosecutors dropped a credit card fraud charge in return.

Court documents say that from May 14 through Sept. 8 last year, Lalumendre and Ethan Ehlers fraudulently overcharged guests’ credit cards at the Howard Johnson hotel in downtown Sioux City. They’d then force refunds and split the money. The documents say the total was more than $32,700.

Ehlers has been sentenced to three years of probation. The two have been ordered to jointly pay $10,000 in restitution to the hotel.