By Shereen Siewert
Nearly three years after being charged with theft in a business setting, a Wausau woman has been ordered to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars in restitution to the company she worked for.
Kris Lapree, now 53, was convicted last year of the felony theft charge, along with forgery, fraudulent writings by a corporate officer and misappropriation of identification information to obtain money. In July 2020 Portage County Circuit Court Reserve Judge Thomas Cane sentenced Lapree to three years in prison.
Initial reports suggested Lapree siphoned about $473,000 over a six-year period from her Stevens Point employer before the thefts came to light. But during an hours-long restitution hearing in Portage County Circuit Court held in May, prosecutors presented several exhibits including payroll data that bumped up the claim.
On June 29, Circuit Judge Patricia Baker entered a restitution order for $712,785.16, Deputy Clerk Shelley Pezewski said.
Police say Lapree, who was the business manager at Rettler Corp. in Stevens Point, began shifting money from the business in December 2012, about nine months after she was hired. Lapree’s position at Rettler required her to pay business expenses, record receipts and deposit funds for the business. About half of the alleged thefts occurred in the final 14 months of her employment with the company, according to court documents.
Lapree remains in the custody of the Wisconsin State Prison system. She is due for supervised release in 2023.
