A former City of Briarcliff employee who pled guilty to stealing money from a water department account in 2019 was back in Baxter County Circuit Court Thursday.
Forty-two-year-old Teri Buege of Mountain Home faced the revocation of the four-year suspended sentence she received in the Briarcliff theft case.
Circuit Judge John Putman found that Buege had violated the terms and conditions of her probation in a number of ways and sentenced her to a year in prison.
Earlier in the session, the judge rejected a proposal not to revoke Buege’s probation but to find her guilty of the lesser charge of contempt of court.
The contempt plea would have resulted in an 89-day stay in the Baxter County jail.
Judge Putman said, “We put people on probation time and time again and it doesn’t do any good. Reporting to a probation officer is a fairly simple thing to do, but it wasn’t done in this case.”
In the original case, Buege was charged with stealing money from coffers of the City of Briarcliff during a period from Dec. 1, 2017 to July 3, 2018.
Investigators said money was diverted from deposits for water service, cash payments received but not recorded or deposited, and at least one forged check.
When she was sentenced, it was announced in court by her attorney that she was prepared to pay back the money she had taken.
Buege was booked into the Baxter County Detention Center May 11 on charges of violating her probation in the Briarcliff case.
A revocation petition filed in late April accuses Buege of being a no show for a scheduled office visit and not informing her probation officer that she had changed addresses.
At the time the petition was filed, Buege’s whereabouts were unknown.
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