Braulick takes Alford plea in Gallery 512 fraud case

Criminal conviction to be dismissed if probation completed and restitution pai

NEW ULM - A 45-year-old Sleepy Eye woman pleaded guilty to a single charge of forgery with the intent to defraud in Brown County District Court Friday.

Bethany Lynnae Braulick faced three theft charges and two forgery charges tied to the alleged theft of $16,401.99 from employers at Gallery 512 in New Ulm over 16 months, as well as the deletion or alteration of business records.

A jury trial was scheduled to begin on Monday, but on Friday Braulick entered an Alford plea for a single charge of forgery.

An Alford plea allows a defendant to plead guilty while still maintaining their innocence.

According to court documents, on June 20, 2025, the New Ulm Police Department was contacted about a possible theft from Gallery 512 Boutique. The store's accounting books did not match the store's bank account statements, leading to an internal audit, which found $7,000 missing and detected multiple inconsistencies between reports documenting physical deposits and point-of-sale (POS) reports.

Further investigations found discrepancies in sales and corresponding deposits in $100 denominations dating back to Feb. 2024. On dates when there were discrepancies in the report, Gallery 512 owners verified Braulick was working and was associated with the sales.

After discovering these discrepancies, Braulick was placed on administrative leave and her work computer was confiscated and deactivated. In reviewing the computer, Gallery 512 owners found evidence of duplicate drawer entries, only one of which was submitted.

An application was later found on the computer that allowed remote access to the computer. A review of the computer operating system found three separate actions were taken Saturday, June 21, 2025--the day after the computer was confiscated--that resulted in documents deleted from the computer.

In addition, a review of Gallery 512’s sales floor computer also had files deleted. Some of the files were recovered and showed the original deposits reports downloaded from the POS system.

During review of employee records found two occurrences in which Braulick entered she worked on a timecard, but the schedule did not have her working.

Braulick's Alford plea was specifically for the charge of submitting a fraudulent timecard. In the plea, Braulick acknowledged that her Oct. 10, 2024 timecard indicated she worked seven hours, but a five-hour absence was omitted and this evidence would be sufficient for a jury to find her guilty with intent to injure of defraud Gallery 512.

As part of the plea, all parties in the case have recommended a stay of adjudication with no criminal conviction if Braulick passes the conditions of probation, including paying back the victims a total of $16,401.99.

During the plea hearing, it was noted that Gallery 512 had already recovered $10,000 from an insurance payment that covers employee theft. This reduces Braulick's repayment to $6,401.99.

A sentencing hearing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. on Dec. 9 at the Brown County Courthouse.