Wausau-area woman convicted of stealing tens of thousands from local business

A 25-year-old woman convicted last month of stealing tens of thousands of dollars from a Wausau-area business will be sentenced in September, court records show.

Lillianna Neumann, formerly of Hatley, on June 25 pleaded no contest to charges of theft in a business setting between $10,000 and $100,000. She was convicted of that charge, while one count of forgery was dismissed and read into the record for sentencing consideration.

Charges were filed April 13, 2023 against Neumann, who faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and $25,000 in fines.

Neumann, who now lists an Athens address, wrote checks from a family-owned company in Ringle to herself and to her own business, Kwik Performance Horses, totaling more than $46,000 over less than a three-month period, court records show. Prosecutors said Neumann was authorized to write checks as part of her employment, but not to write checks to herself or her business.

The crime left the family feeling shocked and betrayed, the victims told Wausau Pilot & Review, and devastated the business.

Neumann hired a local defense attorney and disclosed the thefts to a Marathon County Sheriff’s investigator in January. The owner of the company hired an accounting firm to perform a forensic audit of the organization’s finances.

As Wausau Pilot previously reported, Neumann has no prior criminal record in Wisconsin. But on social media, Neumann has been accused by multiple people of defrauding clients while operating a photography business and as part of a dog breeding operation. Those allegations sparked several Facebook pages, since removed, that appeared to show screen shots of conversations between Neumann and clients. Online court records show Neumann sued one woman in 2021 who launched such a page. That case, filed in Lincoln County, was dismissed. The page remained online for months but has since been taken down.

A contested sentencing hearing is set for Sept. 16, with a contested restitution hearing on the calendar for Oct. 25. In a contested hearing, both sides have an opportunity to argue their case before Circuit Judge Scott Corbett makes a final determination. A presentencing investigation has been ordered.

Neumann is not currently in custody.