Former Director Sentenced For Embezzling From Deer Lodge Museum

BUTTE, Mont. (AP) — The former director of operations for the Old Prison Museums in Deer Lodge has been ordered to pay $136,000 in restitution for embezzling from the museums.

The Montana Standard reports (http://bit.ly/1HyeDx8 ) District Judge Kurt Krueger suspended all but 106 days of a 20-year sentence for 55-year-old Julia Kaye Brewer. She has served 16 days.

Prosecutors allege she deposited more than $25,000 in revenue from the museum into her personal bank account. There was a shortage of about $70,000 from the 2013 operating season.

Court records said Brewer forged the signature of the president of the Powell County Museum and Arts Foundation to obtain a credit card. She used it to make personal purchases and paid the bill from the museum account.

Brewer pleaded guilty to felony forgery and theft by embezzlement in August 2014.