December 12, 2018
Theft from Dickens in the limelight 11 years later
By JILL DENNING GACKLE
The 25-year-old Dickens Village Festival hasn’t always been gingerbread and glad tidings.
Eleven years ago, a theft of $19,326 by Michelle Kallberg, the group’s treasurer, brought the organization’s reserves to zero and nearly crippled the festival’s future.
Last month Kallberg was scheduled to be back in court on charges of not making restitution or completing other probation requirements. She still owes $17,715. The Nov. 21 hearing was postponed; no date has been set.
Kallberg, 44, formerly of Garrison, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with four years suspended in 2007. She was ordered to be on probation for five years after serving her sentence for the Class B felony thefts; that probation ended in 2017.
She also pleaded guilty to two Class C felony convictions for thefts from two Garrison Area Jaycees fundraisers while Kallberg served as president of that organization. She stole $2,196.25 from the Coleharbor Relief Fund formed after tornado-like winds ripped through the town and $864 from a Jaycees calendar fundraiser for the Garrison Volunteer Fire Department.
Eleven years ago, a theft of $19,326 by Michelle Kallberg, the group’s treasurer, brought the organization’s reserves to zero and nearly crippled the festival’s future.
Last month Kallberg was scheduled to be back in court on charges of not making restitution or completing other probation requirements. She still owes $17,715. The Nov. 21 hearing was postponed; no date has been set.
Kallberg, 44, formerly of Garrison, was sentenced to 10 years in prison with four years suspended in 2007. She was ordered to be on probation for five years after serving her sentence for the Class B felony thefts; that probation ended in 2017.
She also pleaded guilty to two Class C felony convictions for thefts from two Garrison Area Jaycees fundraisers while Kallberg served as president of that organization. She stole $2,196.25 from the Coleharbor Relief Fund formed after tornado-like winds ripped through the town and $864 from a Jaycees calendar fundraiser for the Garrison Volunteer Fire Department.
