Kimberly Lords, 45, of Rigby, Idaho, was sentenced yesterday to 30 months in prison for uttering counterfeit checks, the U.S. Attorney’s Office announced. U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge also ordered Lords to serve three years of supervised release following her prison term and to pay $364,672.80 in restitution. Lords pled guilty to the charge on September 15, 2010.

According to the plea agreement, in February 2010, an accountant for Golden West Irrigation Company, headquartered in Rexburg, Idaho, notified company officials of unusual activity in a checking account involving Lords. Between May 2006 and January 2010, Lords, a company secretary, had written a large number of checks to a vendor who had been paid for services as a subcontractor on a single occasion in 2006. All subsequent checks payable to the vendor contained the forged signature of the company's general manager and a forged social security number. The checks were deposited in Lord's personal checking account. Lords told her bank the vendor was her son and added him as an authorized user of the account. Most of the checks were in the amount of $2,485 because, according to Lords, amounts over $2,500 would be subject to additional scrutiny by Golden West's bank. The loss to the company was over $364,000.

The case was investigated by the Bonneville County Sheriff's Office and the U.S. Secret Service.

U.S. District Judge Edward J. Lodge noted at sentencing that Lords had a federal conviction in 1996 from Texas for a theft for which she served 18 months in prison and was ordered to pay over $84,000 in restitution. Golden West Irrigation was not aware of Lords’ previous conviction from Texas.