Woman imprisoned for jail escape

HARTINGTON — A woman who escaped from the Cedar County Jail and stole a county-owned vehicle to get away will spend the next six months incarcerated to serve out time in the case.

Samantha Fredericksen, 32, Sioux City, Iowa, was also ordered to pay $5,140 in restitution to Cedar County for the vehicle.

Fredericksen was sentenced by Judge Bryan Meismer Monday morning to two years in prison but was given credit for time already served, leaving about six months remaining.

The sentencing followed the announcement of a plea agreement which dismissed several additional charges against her. She was also ordered to seek mental health treatment while in prison.

Fredericksen was being held at the Cedar County Jail in Hartington last summer when she pushed past a jailer who was serving her breakfast and escaped the facility. She then stole a vehicle owned by Cedar County Emergency Management and led law enforcement on a pursuit through two counties.

The Cedar County and Wayne County sheriff’s offices and the Nebraska State Patrol were able to apprehend her and take her into custody a short time after she escaped.

In other court news: - Amended charges were filed against Sage Stolpe, 21, Magnet, in Adams County reducing a first-degree sexual assault charge to intentional child abuse and third-degree sexual assault. The child abuse charge remains a felony while third-degree sexual assault is a misdemeanor. The charges stem from a sexual encounter with an underage girl in Hastings in May 2022.

Stolpe also appeared in Cedar County District Court Monday morning on a felony theft charge. He pleaded not guilty and his case was set for further hearing May 22.

He allegedly stole four rings valued at several thousand dollars and sold them to a Norfolk jeweler.

- Derek Ehlers, 47, Wynot, admitted probation violations as part of a plea agreement that includes district court and county court cases. Ehlers was placed on two years’ probation in 2020 on a felony assault charge. He violated his probation when he contacted the victim in that case who had a valid protection order against him. He was subsequently charged with 12 counts of violation of probation.