Woman pleads guilty to theater embezzlement

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A woman has admitted she embezzled thousands of dollars from the Andy Williams Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri, where she worked from 1992 to 2009.

The U.S. attorney's office said in a news release that Dawn Cleveringa, 59, of Kirksville, Missouri, pleaded guilty Tuesday to filing a false tax return while working as controller at the theater.

Cleveringa responsibilities included supervising financial transactions of the theater. She admitted in her plea that she made unauthorized payments from theater funds to herself for personal expenses in 2007 and 2008.

Cleveringa pleaded guilty in state court in 2012 to embezzling more than $678,000 from the theater. The federal charge is related only to the part of the embezzled income for which Cleveringa did not pay federal income taxes, a total of $262,656.