The Hughes County Courthouse in Pierre, pictured in November 2022. (John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight)
PIERRE, S.D. (South Dakota Searchlight) – Another criminal prosecution against a former South Dakota state employee moved toward resolution Tuesday when a Springfield woman pleaded guilty to forging and falsifying food-service inspection reports.
Renee Lynn Strong, 55, entered the plea in Hughes County Circuit Court. She will be sentenced June 10 for two felony counts of forgery and two felony counts of offering false or forged instruments for filing or recording in a public office.
Each forgery count carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Each count of the other charge carries a maximum sentence of two years in prison and a $4,000 fine.
Strong was an employee of the South Dakota Department of Public Safety and was performing contract work for the Department of Health when the crimes occurred.
South Dakota’s Division of Criminal Investigation investigated the case, and Attorney General Marty Jackley’s office is prosecuting it.
Strong’s plea came five days after a Hughes County jury convicted former state employee Lonna Carroll of two felony counts of grand theft for stealing $1.8 million over the course of 13 years from the Division of Child Protection Services. She is awaiting sentencing.
The Carroll and Strong cases are among five criminal prosecutions that Jackley has filed against former state employees since last year for allegations related to their work with state government.
The run of allegations started in August, when Jackley said a deceased former three-decade employee of the state Department of Revenue, Sandra O’Day, had allegedly created 13 fake vehicle titles to help her secure $400,000 in loans. No charges were filed, because O’Day died before her alleged behavior came to light.
In October, Jackley announced charges against two other former Department of Revenue employees, Lynne Hunsley, 64, and Danielle Degenstein, 51, both of Pierre.
Hunsley has since pleaded guilty to forgery and grand theft by deception for creating a fake vehicle title that she used as proof of a trade-in to help her avoid excise taxes. She was sentenced to three years of probation and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and $1,200 in restitution to the state.
Degenstein is charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly concealing her knowledge of a crime committed by a person identified in court documents as “S.O.” — initials that match O’Day’s. Degenstein’s case file indicates she has reached a plea agreement and her June trial has been canceled.
In January, Amalia Escalante Barrientos, 28, of Brookings, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor for using a grocery voucher intended for clients of the Department of Social Services. She was sentenced to pay a $400 fine, $96.50 in court costs and $449.98 in restitution. She’ll avoid serving 180 days in jail if she complies with the sentence.
In response to the run of prosecutions, Jackley supported a package of four bills passed during the recent legislative session that will expand the investigatory authority of the state auditor, strengthen the Board of Internal Controls, institute mandatory reporting requirements for state employees and penalties for failing to report, and establish protections for whistleblowers.
Lawmakers passed legislation strengthening the ability of the Legislature’s Government Operations and Audit Committee to conduct investigations and issue orders known as subpoenas requiring people to testify or supply information.
Last year, then-Gov. Kristi Noem added an extra internal control officer position to the executive branch and ordered state employees to undergo annual training aimed at preventing criminal activity.
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