Albert Lea man sentenced for theft and aggravated forgery

Freeborn County District Court Judge Steve Schwab on Friday sentenced former Albert Lea insurance agent Reid Nelson to 90 days in the Freeborn County Jail after he pleaded guilty in May to theft and aggravated forgery, both felonies.

Restitution will be argued at a later hearing, but prosecutor Christy Hormann with the Steele County Attorney’s Office is alleging Nelson took more than $220,000.

Court records state Nelson failed to insure liability through his company, Strong Agency Inc., for a construction company even though the company made its payments. He also provided fake certificates of insurance to the company.

In an unrelated incident, Nelson reportedly took more than $30,000 from the former owners of the Town House Apartments, a complex which he managed on College Street. He reportedly wrote checks for personal interests on the bank account of the apartments he managed.

Hormann, who prosecuted the case because Nelson is the brother of the Freeborn County attorney, said the money taken was a “substantial” amount of money.

She said Nelson took advantage of the people who trusted him in both cases.

When given the opportunity to speak, Nelson apologized for his actions and said he was not emotionally able to say much more.

“I’m deeply ashamed of what I’ve done,” he said.

Both Hormann and Nelson’s own lawyer, Thomas Kraus of Waseca, hinted to the fact that Nelson may have had a gambling problem that contributed to his actions.

As a result, Schwab sentenced Nelson to complete a gambling assessment and to follow the recommendations given in the assessment.

He was also sentenced to 40 hours of community work service or Sentence to Service time for each of the two files, which must be completed within 180 days of his release from jail.

Nelson will report to jail Oct. 3 and will be given credit for one day already served in jail. He was also authorized for Huber work release.

He will be on probation for up to five years for the felony theft charge and up to 10 years for the forgery charge.

Other parts of his sentence included writing letters of apology to the victims, completing a psychological evaluation, abstaining from alcohol or any other mood-altering chemicals, remaining law abiding, complying with random alcohol and drug testing, and not going in bars or liquor stores for the period of his probation.

He also ordered that Nelson give a DNA sample and pay an $80 court cost and a $50 fine in each file. Schwab said he limited the fines so Nelson would be able to focus his efforts on restitution.

Nelson originally faced one count of aggravated forgery and one count of insurance fraud in one file and then six counts of felony theft in the second file. The other charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.

Kraus said as a result of what has happened, Nelson is losing his insurance license and is also facing some civil penalties from the state.

The sentence was classified as a “stay of imposition,” which means that if Nelson is successfully discharged from probation, the case will be reduced to a lesser charge on his record.