In the 4 days between the dye Saturday and the arrest Sunday, the Pella community moved through the story in its own slow Dutch rhythm. The Tuesday Pella Garden Club meeting at the Lutheran Fellowship Hall had 83 attendees against a typical 30. The meeting did not include Berkeley. The meeting consisted, by attendee accounts later, of 40 minutes of quiet conversation and 20 minutes of slow rolling silence while members processed what they had been pretending not to see for three growing seasons. Alchea Beamster, the newsletter editor, stood at the end of the meeting and apologized to the room on behalf of the newsletter.
Three members cried. The minutes were transcribed by the secretary in pencil and have since been donated to the Pella Historical Village archive at Anka Vermuan's request. The minutes will be available to researchers in 20150. Anka had made the year set herself. Anka said when she filed the minutes, "Some town stories need to age.
This one needs 50 years. " I had asked her why. She had said because in 50 years a young Pella historian will read it and say why did it take three years to catch a thief and the answer they will find in the minutes is because Pella was being polite and the young historian will write a better town than the one we are. Berkeley was arrested at her front door at 1:53 p.m. on Sunday the 5th of May. The charges had been formally filed by Marion County District Attorney Anaka Becker, the deputy Hilda's older sister, just a Pella coincidence of surnames, at 8:30 Sunday morning. Theft in the first degree under Iowa code section 716.5.
Conspiracy to commit theft under Iowa code section 76.1. unauthorized connection to a private water source under the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, Chapter 567 regulations. Forgery of a public document. Berkeley had been billing the Windmill Crossing Estates HOA $1,700 a month for Professional Water Conservation Consulting through her LLC for 31 months, totaling $52,700 in embezzled funds, plus eight lesser counts. Casper Markham was arrested in Cedar Rapids the same afternoon on the conspiracy count. Berkeley's husband, Wesley Stratton, was not arrested.
He had not known about the unauthorized line. He had not known about the HOA embezzlement. He had not known about most of his wife's tulip cultivation operation. He had spent the past four years on the road consulting for Pella Corporation on a contract basis and had been home approximately every other weekend. He filed for divorce on the 12th of May.
The divorce was uncontested. He moved to West Des Moines on the 22nd. The criminal cases ran through the summer. Casper Markham took a plea on the 17th of June. 6 months in Marion County Jail, 3 years probation, restitution of $4,000 to me, written cooperation in the case against Berkeley.
He served his sentence on weekends, the way Iowa allows for working defendants with no prior record. He returned to Cedar Rapids in the fall. He sent me a handwritten letter the week before his sentence began. The letter said in part, "Mr. Brinkmeyer, I should have asked more questions in 2021. I am sorry.