By Jason Schoonover, Austin Daily Herald

AUSTIN — A 34-year-old Austin woman charged in six Mower County cases with various counts of financial fraud, check forgery, theft and drug possession has pleaded guilty to a number of the multiple felonies she faces.

Meranda Lynn O’Connor took a plea agreement Friday in Mower County District Court and pleaded guilty to two counts of felony check forgery, theft, felony check forgery for more than $250, and fifth-degree drug possession.

In the various cases, O’Connor forged a nearly $400 check intended to buy a vacuum for the Mower County jail, forged checks at Hy-Vee and Wal-Mart, forged a credit card rewards check, and maxed out a credit card through more than $1,000 in several online purchases before she was eventually arrested after police tracked her whereabouts when she tried to use the maxed out credit card to order from Steve’s Pizza.

In one case, a woman spoke to law enforcement on Aug. 24, 2016, about her U.S. Bank credit card being “maxed out” in a suspected scam.

According to the court complaint, she had found out her card had been used for several purchases: $500 at Victoria’s Secret, $30.87 at Steve’s Pizza, $200.95 at www.jpay.com, $500 on www.squaredup.com and $1 on www.amazon.com.

When she was finally arrested, police found plastic bags used to possess drugs, a piece of paper with a debit card number and a person’s name, and a bag of 1.15 grams of methamphetamine.

In 2012, she was sentenced to three years probation on one count of uttering altered currency, and she was sentenced to five years probation in 2015 in Freeborn County for offering a forged check.

She is scheduled to be sentenced on April 27.