In Renville County District Court yesterday (Wednesday) Sharon Lothert told the judge that she wanted a jury trial.

Lothert, 59 of Hector faces 3 felony charges for allegedly taking almost $21,000 in funds from the Danube Economic Development Agency while she served as its president between Aug. 1, 2009, and Dec. 31, 2010.
Lothert also faces a gross misdemeanor charge for misconduct by a public officer for the alleged activities.
Wednesday's hearing was to hear arguements about statements that were made by Lothert to a Renville County Deputy in Danube. Judge Slieter is expected to make a ruling at a later date.
The statements in question were made to a deputy when responding to a 911 call to Lotherts home when she overdosed on pills. She was transported by air to another medical facility according to the report but prior to the transfer she allegedly made statements to the deputy about placing money in personal accounts.
The charges against Lothert were filed June 6, 2011, and followed an investigation conducted in February by the Renville City Police at the request of Renville County. An audit of the Danube EDA accounts by public accountants at Oberloh and Associates Ltd. in Redwood Falls, had identified discrepancies in the EDA accounts between August 2009 and December 2010.
The investigation found that the Danube city clerk had managed the accounts until turning them over to Lothert as EDA president and City Council member during that time period.
Lothert was also the whistleblower in a case against Police Chief Les Schneider. Schneider entered an Alford guity plea in January of 2010 for charges of theft from the Danube Fire Department Smelt feed funds. The complaint had accused Les Schneider of writing checks from the fire department smelt fund to his wife for $4,460 in July, August and September of 2006, and that the funds were placed in their joint checking account. A deposit of $5,045 was made into the fire department smelt fund on Oct. 31, 2006, by the chief’s father, Lester Schneider Sr. Les Schneider remains the police chief in Danube today.