Ex-Mapleton official faces new theft charge

SPANISH FORK — Jeannie Bell just couldn't keep her hand out of the cookie jar, prosecutors say.

A new theft charge has been filed against the former Mapleton finance controller who was just sentenced earlier this month for embezzling almost $30,000 from the city.

Just three weeks after Mapleton officials confronted her and she resigned last summer, a Spanish Fork frozen-food company hired Bell, 49, as an accountant. She neglected to tell the company about her pending legal problems and added 80 hours to her payroll — a theft of over $1,200, prosecutor Craig Johnson said.

After Bell was extradited from Las Vegas, where she had fled to skip a court date in the embezzlement case, she apologized and repaid the company, Johnson said.

But prosecutors still decided to file the new third-degree felony theft charge after Bell was sentenced May 6 to 55 days of GPS monitoring through the Utah County Jail. She is due back in court June 24.

Prosecutors have said Bell stole the money to aid her son, who served in the military and was struggling financially.

— Paul Koepp