Both sides claimed partial defeat when Loveland arts educator Brittany Grim accepted a plea agreement in Larimer County District Court on Monday.
Grim plead guilty to a Class 1 misdemeanor – misuse of a financial transaction device – ending a bitterly divisive case in which she faced two felony charges of stealing up to $100,000 from the Harrington Arts Alliance youth arts academy she cofounded in 2011.
Grim was given a three-year deferred sentence and must pay restitution of $48,000 over the next three years. “I always thought crime didn’t pay, but it looks like it does,” said David Felts, the company’s director of operations.
The nonprofit’s board of directors issued a scathing statement saying that “a great injustice has been served to the people of the state of Colorado. It is the organization’s belief that the District Attorney’s office messed this case up, which has allowed Ms. Grim to be leniently punished and able to reoffend.”
In a statement, Grim said she was accepting the plea deal only because “my attorneys said this was my off-ramp, and that I should take it so I can move on. So my family and my community can move on.