Lincoln police officer Cassandra Briggs was just
about eligible for parole, but not any more. Briggs was sentenced Tuesday for
up to two years behind bars for falsely reporting her ATM card had been stolen.
It turns out, she had instructed her mother, who
lives in Florida, to make the withdrawals all while she was locked up.
"This incident is sort of mind boggling to me
because she hadn't even been released from that sentence yet before she again
commits another crime of the same sort," Deputy County Attorney Holly
Parsley said.
That crime being felony theft.
A little more than one year ago, Briggs was
sentenced up to five years for felony theft. She had stolen more than $9,000
from the Santa Cop charity.
Her attorney says both crimes were unfortunate and
was hoping the judge would go easy on her this time around.
"This obviously wasn't a violent crime, it's
something that she admitted fairly quickly. Obviously not right at the
beginning, but fairly quickly. I think it was a poor decision, but it's
something she's learning from," Briggs's attorney Elizabeth Elliott said.
In the end, all sides agreed that Briggs, after
serving her time, could return to a normal life and be successful.
"There isn't a reason in the world that you
cant get back on your feet and be a productive citizen but the only person who
can determine that is you," Judge Karen Flowers said.
Briggs's eligibility for parole
has been pushed back about a year.