Kuhl changes plea

Mary Kuhl has changed her plea to “no contest” against a felony charge related to her conduct in office as county treasurer, from which she resigned in October.

Kuhl originally pled “not guilty” to the felony charge of unauthorized use of monies, as well as to one misdemeanor count of official misconduct and two misdemeanor counts of issuing false certificate.

The allegations against her included that she placed a customer’s “lost in the mail” license plate tabs on her own vehicle; adjusted the tax system to hide missing money; and issued a false certificate so that a personal friend could avoid paying registration fees.

In a plea agreement that was jointly filed on Thursday by her attorney, Jason Tangeman, and special prosecutor Greg Steward on behalf of the State, Kuhl agreed to plead “no contest” to the felony.

In return, the State agreed to dismiss the misdemeanor offenses and recommend she receive a deferred sentence and be placed on two years of supervised probation.

When a deferred sentence is given, Wyoming statute states that the sentence will be suspended until after the defendant has completed their period of probation. Once the probation period has been successfully completed, the judge may throw out the sentence and plea and clear the conviction from the person’s record.

The State will be bound by this agreement unless, within five days before sentencing, Kuhl commits a violation of law or the terms and conditions of her bond; it is found that Kuhl committed a material misrepresentation of fact considering the facts of her criminal history or present personal circumstances that the State relied upon to agree to its recommendation; or Kuhl fails to cooperate with the presentence investigation.

A change of plea hearing has been scheduled in District Court on December 15 at 10:30 a.m. The plea agreement will then be argued during Kuhl’s sentencing hearing, at which time the judge will decide whether or not to accept its terms as they stand.