MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A former Freeborn County commissioner who ran a real estate closing company has been sentenced for stealing nearly $1 million from escrow accounts.

U.S. District Judge David Doty on Tuesday sentenced 60-year-old Linda Kae Tuttle-Olson of Albert Lea to 3.5 years in prison.

Tuttle-Olson pleaded guilty last April in federal court to one count of wire fraud.

In her plea agreement, Tuttle-Olson admitted that from January through June of 2010, she stole at least $920,000 from escrow accounts. Prosecutors say she transferred the funds into company accounts, wrote checks for herself, and sent checks from bank to bank to try to cover the scheme.

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