SCOTTSBLUFF, Neb. (AP) - An attorney for a western Nebraska woman accused of embezzling thousands of dollars from state wards is seeking to question State Auditor Mike Foley and Nebraska State Court Administrator Janice Walker under oath.
Sterling Huff, attorney for Judy Widener, filed a motion to depose Foley and Walker. In response, the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office filed a motion to quash the request.
Widener, 70, is accused of collecting payments that were intended for her court-appointed wards, even though some were dead or no longer in her care, according to Nebraska State Patrol investigators. Widener has pleaded not guilty to the embezzlement charges.
On Friday, Huff argued before a Scotts Bluff County District Court judge that he should be able to question Foley on his office’s role in the charges against Widener, The Scottsbluff Star-Herald reported (https://bit.ly/1qqV978). Huff wants to question Walker about whether the Nebraska Supreme Court and the Court Administrator’s Office took part in the criminal investigation of Widener.
An audit issued by Foley’s office last year found that Widener had served as a guardian, conservator, or both, for more than 600 people in the state. Foley’s office has since publicly said that Widener masked her alleged embezzlement through a complex array of credit cards and dozens of bank accounts containing more than $600,000.
Stephanie Caldwell, a deputy for the Nebraska Attorney General’s Office, argued Friday that Foley “had little or almost no involvement” in the audit of the program and that neither he nor Walker could offer any testimony relevant to Widener’s criminal case.
The judge gave Caldwell one week to submit a brief outlining her objections to the defense attorney’s questioning of Foley and Walker, and Huff will have a week to respond.
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Information from: Star-Herald, https://www.starherald.com
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