By Jacob Mathias

A former gas station manager is charged with felony theft from a business setting after allegedly stealing nearly $20,000 from an ATM she attended.

Nicole Heitman, 38, of Friendship, Wis., faces felony charges for theft and bail jumping, a sentence that could lead to 10 years imprisonment and a $25,000 fine.

According to court documents, Heitman was the manager of Terry’s BP gas station in Nekoosa from April to June 2014. In her duties as manager, Heitman was the sole employee responsible for refilling the store’s ATM.

When police questioned other store employees, they confirmed that Heitman was responsible for the ATM and when they offered to attend to the ATM for her, she would yell at them, saying she was the only one that could do it.

Heitman would take the ATM’s cash into an isolated office where other employees could not observe her activities.

An audit of the ATM’s activity showed that it was missing $19,680.

Prior to being charged with the theft, Heitman was on bond for previous charges of felony narcotics possession and misdemeanor issuing of worthless checks. Conditions of her bond required that she not commit any more crimes.

Hetiman was scheduled for her initial court appearance on July 27 but failed to appear due to a flat tire.

She returns to Branch 1 of Wood County Circuit Court on August 3 at 9:00 AM.