COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) — A Waterloo, Nebraska woman has been charged in Iowa with stealing between $22,000 and $222,000.

44-year-old Beth Beutler (BITE-ler) was arrested Friday morning in western Iowa and charged with 38 counts of forgery. Authorities say she also faces charges of theft and ongoing criminal activity.

Police say Beutler used a checking machine to withdraw thousands of dollars. The machine allows truck drivers to access funds from across the country by giving a clerk at a truck stop an authorization code to pay for fuel, service or get cash.

Police say Beutler got the authorization codes from McMullen Brothers Trucking in Carter Lake, where her husband works, and used them at Pilot Travel Center in Council Bluffs.

DATELINE (AP) — A 21-year-old Lincoln man has been sentenced to nearly two years in jail for impersonating a police officer.

Al Williams Jr. was sentenced Friday after being found guilty in December of two counts of impersonating an officer, attempting to obstruct police and disturbing the peace — all misdemeanors. Online court records show he was sentenced to 21 months.

Authorities say Williams pulled over or tried to pull over several drivers last year. One victim included a woman he stopped, ordered out of her car and forced her to get on her knees while her 6-year-old child was in the car.

Police say he tried to avoid arrest and was hiding on an elderly couple’s porch when officers found him.

TEKAMAH, Neb. (AP) — The Nebraska Game and Parks Commission plans to discuss a management plan for pheasants when it meets Thursday in Tekamah (teh-KAYE’-muh).

Staffers will present a draft of what’s being called the Nebraska Mega Plan. Among its goals are increasing the number of pheasants in the state and increasing hunter access to land where pheasants can be found.

The commission agenda also includes a public hearing on changes regarding the removal of meat from elk carcasses before they’re taken to check stations.

The meeting is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Pheasant Bonanza Hunt Club and Kennel north of Tekamah.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Federal authorities have indicted an Omaha woman accused of selling thousands of worthless airline vouchers.

Patricia Urbanovsky was charged Thursday in U.S. District Court in Omaha on nine counts of money laundering and 16 counts of wire fraud. Her attorney, Steven Lefler, said Friday he hadn’t talked to Urbanovsky yet and couldn’t comment. She’s already facing state charges of theft by deception.

The 30-year-old Urbanovsky is the owner of Creative Creations in Omaha. Authorities say she ran a scheme through her business to sell discounted airline travel vouchers, which turned out to be worthless. Authorities say the company purchased the vouchers for airline flights at a reduced rate and resold them to the public. But hundreds of customers discovered their vouchers wouldn’t be honored because the company had overbooked flights.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha attorney accused of trust account violations and falsifying documents has been disbarred.

The Nebraska Supreme Court ordered the disbarment of Patricia Geringer on Friday after she voluntarily surrendered her law license in January.

The formal charges against Geringer consisted of three counts alleging that she violated her oath of office as an attorney.

The record says Geringer first filed a response to the charge in December in which she denied the allegations, and a referee was appointed on Dec. 15. A little more than three weeks later, Geringer filed to voluntarily surrender her license.

On Friday, the high court found that Geringer freely, knowingly and voluntarily admitted that she does not contest the allegations against her.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — An Omaha woman who prosecutors say let a 4-year-old in her care freeze to death will be tried in district court.

Douglas County District Judge Greg Schatz ruled that there was sufficient evidence to send the case to trial during a preliminary hearing Thursday afternoon.

Prosecutor Molly Keane said Chelsey Cook committed child abuse resulting in death last month because she didn’t seek medical attention when 4-year-old Alicia Morrow was cold and barely breathing in the hours before she died.

Cook’s attorney, J. William Gallup, said Cook had fed and clothed the girl, took her to school and doctor’s appointments and cared for her like her own child.

Autopsy results say Alicia died Jan. 3 of hypothermia.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Eastern Nebraska authorities say they seized $2.4 million in suspected drug money from a semitrailer after a traffic stop along Interstate 80.

The Lancaster County Sheriff’s Office says deputies pulled over the semitrailer a few miles west of Lincoln around 10:30 a.m. Thursday. The office says the deputies became suspicious of the driver and his passenger and then were denied permission to search the truck. A drug dog taken to the scene alerted deputies to the odor of drugs, so the big rig was searched.

The Sheriff’s Office says heat-sealed and banded cash that smelled of marijuana was inside several pieces of luggage that were found.

The two people were arrested on suspicion of violating drug laws. Online court records don’t show that they’ve been formally charged yet.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A woman who authorities say was arrested by deputies after falling through the ceiling of an adjoining Lincoln duplex unit has been sentenced to five years in prison on drug-related charges.

36-year-old Kristina Frerichs was also sentenced Thursday to two years of post-release supervision for drug possession and theft by receiving stolen property.

Deputies say they saw Frerichs through a window at her residence in December but couldn’t find her when the duplex owners let them in. Authorities say residents on the other side of the duplex soon reported that someone had fallen from the attic through the ceiling of their living room. Frerichs was found hiding at the bottom of a nearby staircase.

According to court records, Frerichs had been sought on warrants stemming from drug possession convictions.

LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — Owners of a brewery that’s being built around a cave in Lincoln have altered plans after finding federally protected bats in the tunnels.

Blue Blood Brewing still intends to offer tours and hold events inside Robbers Cave, but that a section will be off-limits because of the northern long-eared bat’s presence.

The company is building a 12,000-square-foot brewery, restaurant and taproom around the cave. With its April opening approaching, owner Brian Podwinski sought an expert to visit the 500 feet of tunnels.

Cliff Lemen, the retired bat biologist who visited the cave in January, said the cave had been closed for years, but apparently not tight enough to keep the bats out.

The bats were named a federally threatened species last year.

BEATRICE, Neb. (AP) — A 52-year-old Beatrice man convicted of strangulation has been given three years in prison.

Leon Williams was sentenced Wednesday in Gage County District Court. Williams had pleaded no contest to the charge. Prosecutors dropped a charge of domestic assault in exchange for Williams’ plea.

A court document says his fiancée told an officer on Nov. 2 that Williams had been drinking when he forced her down on a bed and put his hands on her face and neck. She grabbed a hammer in an attempt to get free, and he released her to grab it and throw it in a corner of the bedroom.