Kelli Lepler, (Hall County Department of Corrections, Courtesy)
GRAND ISLAND – Hall County District Judge Andrew Butler has denied a change of venue request by Kelli Lepler of Grand Island, who is accused of accepting payments for cemetery headstones but not installing the headstones.
Butler made the ruling, dating back to a March request for venue change, on Nov. 21. He set a pretrial hearing for 3:30 p.m. Nov. 26.
A jury trial will begin Dec. 4, immediately following selection of jurors that day. The trial will continue on Dec. 5 to Dec. 6, Dec. 9 to Dec. 13, and Dec. 18 to Dec. 20.
Deputy Hall County Attorney Matthew Boyle is the prosecutor. Defense attorneys are Hall County Public Defenders Jerry Piccolo and Edwina Heise.
Lepler, 46, owned of a Grand Island cemetery headstone business and is accused of receiving $258,404 from 43 customers.
She is charged in Hall County District Court with 46 counts of theft by deception, of which 38 charges are felonies and eight charges are misdemeanors.
In March, Piccolo had requested a change of venue because of the amount of pretrial publicity, including newspaper articles, television reports, and social media reports.
Lepler’s attorney, Hall County Public Defender Jerry Piccolo, wrote in his motion for change of venue that “a fair and impartial jury/trial cannot be held due to pretrial publicity which is pervasive in the community and prejudicial” to Lepler.
According to the July 3, 2023, arrest warrant affidavit:
Since April 4, 2023, “the Grand Island Police Department has received an additional 68 reports. All 68 of those reports are very similar in the fact that the victims had paid Kelli Lepler money up front for a monument or monument services.” The cemetery monuments were never delivered. Lepler told customers various excuses as to why the orders were not being completed.
The purchases were made between Jan. 8, 2020, and Feb. 9, 2023.
