Ex-Mapleton official extradited to Utah

SPANISH FORK — Jeannie Bell, the former finance controller of Mapleton who skipped her arraignment on a felony theft charge last month, has been extradited from Las Vegas.

Police say she fled there and was reported missing by her husband, but officers quickly tracked her down. Bell has spent the last month in the Clark County Detention Center and is now in the Utah County Jail.

Prosecutors say Bell, 48, used a city credit card to purchase stamps and gift cards for employee bonuses, then sold them on eBay instead of distributing them. Mapleton officials discovered irregularities going back at least four years and involving more than $20,000.

Bell's attorney, Douglas Baxter, said he had not spoken with his client but expected her to appear in 4th District Court on Thursday on a warrant issued by Judge James Taylor when she missed her court date.

— Paul Koepp