Christine King, 42, from Strawberry Point, Iowa, received the prison term after a May 5, 2014, guilty plea to one count of mail fraud.

In a plea agreement, King admitted that, from July 2002 through October 2011, while working as the city clerk for the city of Masonville, she routinely issued herself fraudulent payroll and expense reimbursement checks. King further admitted she included fraudulently inflated bank account balances for the city’s bank accounts on reports King provided to the city council and to the Auditor for the State of Iowa in order to prevent anyone from discovering her fraud. At sentencing, the court determined King had defrauded Masonville of $81,524.24. King also agreed she was responsible for an $11,070.57 bill from the Iowa State Auditor to Masonville for an audit of Masonville after King’s fraud was discovered.

King was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Chief Judge Linda R. Reade. King was sentenced to twenty-one months’ imprisonment. A special assessment of $100 was imposed and she was ordered to make $82,594.81 in restitution to Masonville and $10,000 in restitution to an insurance company. She must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

King was released on conditions previously set and is to surrender to the United States Marshal on August 4, 2014.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Anthony Morfitt and was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Court file information is available at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/. The case file number is 14-CR-2009.