Grant

GRUNDY CENTER — After a long and often emotional hearing at the Grundy County Courthouse on Monday afternoon, former Conrad Chamber-Main Street Executive Director and Beaman Conrad Emergency Response Team (BCERTS) Secretary/Treasurer Krista Grant received a suspended prison sentence totaling 29 years on a total of five counts related to her ongoing theft of over $46,000 from the two aforementioned entities, with one catch. She will be required to spend a year in a residential correctional facility, often referred to as a halfway house, at the order of Judge Andrea Dryer.

With about 30 people observing the proceedings in the courtroom, Grant was represented by Attorney Adam Junaid, while Grundy County Attorney Erika Allen and Assistant County Attorney Kali Adams appeared on behalf of the state. A trio of character witnesses testified on Grant’s behalf during the sentencing hearing — friends Stacy Cordes and Katie Simms and her husband Marc Grant. All of them described a woman who has been deeply involved in the community through her volunteer work and had shown strong remorse for her actions and undergone therapy since she was first arrested in 2023. Additionally, they did not feel that sending Grant to prison would aid in her rehabilitation or allow her to repay the debt she now owed to Conrad.

Marc Grant, who has lived in Conrad for almost all of his life, provided the longest testimony of the three witnesses, sharing that he and his wife of nearly 24 years had received an outpouring of support from the community when one of their daughters was born prematurely, and she subsequently felt strongly about volunteering as much as she could and “always wanting to give back more than was given.”

In July of 2023, Krista Grant first notified her husband of “mistakes” she had made in her role with the BCERTS, and about four months later, he learned of the additional charges pertaining to her tenure with Chamber-Main Street. Once she had hit “rock bottom,” he said she began to move in a more positive direction, take accountability and devise a payback plan, which included selling her late father’s vintage pickup truck and most of her jewelry other than her wedding ring.

Marc Grant described the experience as “life changing” and “eye opening” and called the crimes his wife committed “so out of character for her.” She is well aware of the pain she has caused, he added, and the family has grown stronger as a result of the situation.

He did not feel that there were any telltale signs or “big ticket purchases” that would have alerted him to any sort of fraud as the couple maintained separate accounts. Ultimately, Marc Grant described Krista as a great wife and mother who made bad decisions, and he didn’t feel that prison would benefit her in any way.

When Allen questioned Marc Grant, she and Dryer clarified that the family had at least $15,000 prepared to pay back immediately in restitution. Written statements on Grant’s behalf were also provided by Deane Adams, Mary Eckerman and Kris Scafferi, but they were not read during the hearing.

From there, the judge moved on to sentencing recommendations. The State argued that the maximum allowable prison sentences should be imposed with the fines suspended, while the defense made the case that both the prison time and the fines be suspended. Junaid contended that his client had wanted to plead guilty for some time and described her as “a humbled person” who felt a deep sense of shame about her actions.

About 55 minutes into the hearing, Krista Grant herself took the opportunity to speak before the court and lamented the “stain” she had left. She even recounted the first time she ever took funds to transfer $200 into her own personal account — shaking, crying and knowing it was wrong, but with the intent to pay the money back the following day. Before long, however, it began happening more often.

“I do know that I never meant to never pay all that back. That was never my intention,” she said.

She recalled being confronted by Jordan Hoy of the BCERTS at a pancake breakfast in 2023 and initially believing it could all be fixed. Eventually, she realized that was no longer possible and fought back tears as she detailed coming clean to her family as well as wanting to speak with community members even as her legal counsel at the time advised against it.

After hitting the aforementioned “rock bottom” late in 2023 and contemplating suicide, Grant decided she would avoid taking the “easy road” and instead work to rebuild her life and her place in the community.

“Today I stand before you a different person than I was then. I may still look the same. To some people I do not. My house may have the big red ‘S’ on it, the Scarlet Letter, and it probably will, and that’s OK because the things I am doing now to take care of myself and to take care of my family and to take care of my community are better,” she said. “I’ve wanted to apologize for a long time and to go up and apologize and admit what I did. But relationship debt is so big that the words ‘I’m sorry’ are not enough, and them forgiving me doesn’t change the fact that I did it. I still did it. Someday I hope to forgive myself.”

She said she had been living in a prison of her own making for the last two years and had a lot of work left to do in making amends and regaining the trust of the community. Grant, who had no prior criminal record, added that she had not asked for a deferred judgment because she felt that decisions she made needed to be a part of her story “permanently.”

As she concluded, she reiterated her plea for mercy from the court and consideration for a suspended sentence. Allen then argued that Grant’s conduct occurred repeatedly and deliberately and placed an even greater burden on a small town EMS service already strapped for cash.

“Conrad took care of Ms. Grant when she needed it, and this is how she repaid them. And while I appreciate Ms. Grant now being remorseful, going through counseling and taking responsibility at this point, the purpose of sentencing is not just rehabilitation,” she said. “It’s also deterrence, and so I would request that the court also consider that Ms. Grant cultivated trust and used that trust to her own financial benefit and that that is not an uncommon occurrence in today’s world, but it should not be the norm. It should not be condoned.”

Hoy, the services director for BCERTS, described how the agency primarily relies on donations and memorials from community members and said they had been impacted greatly by Grant’s thefts over a four-year period, especially as equipment costs continue to rise.

“Krista’s direct actions while a member of BCERTS has led to the breakdown of trust within the community and has harmed the BCERTS reputation,” Hoy said.

He went on to detail her pattern of deception in opening accounts in the organization’s name that only she had access to and moving funds without approval while often failing to produce financial reports over the last two years before her arrest, at one time even calling efforts to look into the fraud “a witch hunt.”

“After identifying this behavior, her dishonesty, habitual lying and her demeanor during a couple of administrative meetings, it was clear that Krista abused her position of authority and trust internally with BCERTS. Krista was placed on administrative leave as this behavior is not acceptable,” Hoy said. “It is of the opinion of BCERTS that Krista should be held responsible for incurring the debt of restitution and be made an example of with prison time for abusing her position as an administrator of a rural public EMS service.”

As Dryer considered the sentence to be imposed, she weighed the defendant’s lack of criminal history against the seriousness of the crimes, their ongoing nature and the fact that the victims were a rural EMS service and an organization aimed at promoting economic development within the community. The judge concluded that she found the presentence investigation recommendation for a suspended sentence to be correct “to a point,” and she felt Grant needed to be working and earning money to repay the victims as soon as possible.

“I do also think that you need to experience some incarceration to emphasize the fact that you need to comply with the rules of supervision in the community and to give you a taste of what will happen if you do not,” Dryer said. “I can do that by making a condition of your supervision placement in a community based residential correctional facility.”

Thus, she agreed to impose the aforementioned requirement for one year or until maximum benefit is achieved while suspending the total consecutive prison sentences of 29 years and fines of $3,500 for first degree theft, two counts of second degree theft, two counts of third degree theft and credit card fraud.

Grant will be required to report to the facility immediately once she is summoned. The restitution amounts are $23,410.31 to BCERTS and $22,826.25 to Chamber-Main Street.