PIPESTONE — A court summons was issued May 16 for Joshua Pawson, 47, of Avoca, on a felony charge of theft by swindle of over $35,000 following an incident lasting from June 2023 to this April.

According to the law enforcement report, a Pipestone County Sheriff’s deputy met with two people from a Pipestone business to report thefts by one of their employees, identified as Pawson.

They told the deputies Pawson was using a company credit card provided to him for business purposes to make personal purchases from June 2023 to this April. They said they started investigating around April 16, regarding a charge on the card of nearly $200.

The business the charge was for turned out to be a high-end bourbon seller, and when one of the reporting parties questioned Pawson about it, he resigned via email. His credit card records were then reviewed, showing he had purchased personal items such as clothing, groceries, alcohol and other various items. It was also discovered he had created fake receipts from places such as Walmart to the company so that it appeared his purchases were legitimate.

These receipts were provided to the deputy, showing a total of $54,021.29 charged to the company card.

On April 24, a search warrant was executed on Pawson’s home in Avoca, where multiple items relating to the purchases on the company card were found.

Pawson made his first appeared in Pipestone County Fifth District Court earlier this month.

Note: This article was written based on information reported by local law enforcement agencies. The Globe reminds readers that all individuals are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. 

Hope Moural is the community editor for the Globe as of May 2024. A born and raised Nebraskan, Hope has a dual bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Communications from Concordia University, Nebraska, and has previously worked as a general assignment reporter.