By By Kerry Whipple Bean
publisher
Amy Laurene Madsen was sentenced last week under a habitual offender law to 20 years in prison after she pleaded guilty to first-degree theft of property by deception.
Madsen is already serving a sentence in Tutwiler after she was convicted in February of preparing false tax return documents. Madsen had served as an independent tax preparer before her arrest in 2007.
According to court documents, Madsen was indicted again last year after she made out checks to herself from a Colonial Bank account held by her employer at the time, Beasley and Co.
Under the plea agreement, charges of fraudulent use of a credit card and second-degree forgery were dropped, court documents said. The agreement also states that no other charges are pending and the district attorney will not personally oppose her parole when she is eligible.
Alabama’s habitual offender law states that anyone convicted of three or more felonies receives a mandatory sentence of life or no less than 20 years in prison.
Madsen was sentenced Sept. 14 by Circuit Judge Bert Rice.
But in a Sept. 18 letter to the judge and district attorney, Madsen said she did not believe the habitual offender law applied to her.
Madsen wrote that she was anxious to be released so that she could make restitution.
The terms of Madsen’s sentence require her to pay court costs and restitution.