Former DSS employee makes first appearance in embezzlement case

Lonna Carroll appears virtually after indictment, extradition

Lonna Carroll’s booking photo with the South Dakota Department of Corrections after she was extradited from Iowa.

PIERRE — A former Department of Social Services (DSS) employee accused of stealing nearly $1.8 million in government money doesn’t have enough money for her own attorney or to post bond.

Lonna Carroll made her first court appearance before Judge Margo Northrup in the Hughes County Courthouse Thursday, after being extradited from Kossuth County Jail in her home state of Iowa on Tuesday. She appeared remotely via webcam from the women’s prison on the east side of Pierre.

Carroll faces two felony charges of aggravated grand theft for allegedly stealing the funds while working as an employee at DSS, which if she is found guilty of could result in up to 40 years of prison time.

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