NEW ULM — A 33-year-old Courtland woman and former director of the Kids X-Cel Center in New Ulm pleaded guilty to felony theft and financial transaction card fraud as part of a plea agreement in Brown County District Court Tuesday.

Four counts of felony transaction card fraud filed in June 2021 against Angela L. Voges, 51253 CR 21, Courtland, were dismissed. Sentencing was set for 8:30 a.m. May 2.

Voges was accused of stealing $71,175.29 from Kids X-Cel Center of New Ulm, a nonprofit child care center from January through May 2021.

According to court documents, New Ulm Police met with two Parents in Partnership, doing business as Kids X-Cel Center, about the theft on June 26, 2021. Witnesses suspected Voges of stealing money from the organization and showed budget documents from January through May 2021.

Police looked at Voges’ timecard reports showing her wage was supposed to be $28.84 an hour, but she actually made $38.46 an hour, due to an unapproved hourly rate that boosted her pay by $8,429.53 from Jan. 16, 2021 to June 19, 2021.

Four witnesses told police the board did not authorize a pay raise for Voges.

An X-Cel Center employee who made the pay changes told police she did it because Voges told her the board offered her a pay raise.

On July 26, 2021, an investigator applied for a subpoena to the case from Amazon. A credit/debit card given to Voges by Kids X-Cel for needed purchases contained $13,087.82 in unaccounted-for items from Jan. 1, 2021 to Aug. 3, 2021.

Account QuickReports for July 6-7, 2021, had credits from Amazon back to the account, clearly indicating items were either returned or orders cancelled after Voges’ employment was suspended.

New Ulm Police investigator Eric Gramentz investigated the case for more than two months and was provided more than 1,200 pages of spread sheets from 2019-21 from Amazon.

Voges was accused of submitting receipts for orders/expenses the investigation was not able to account for, indicating transactions never took place, but Voges was issued checks from Kids X-Cel Center to cover the expenses.

Many orders were sent to Voges’ home, others to the Kids-X-Cel address and were not for daycare center use. Voges was accused of altering receipts by changing the order number and description of what was purchased, making it appear the charge was a legitimate business purchase.