Judge Rules La Salle Woman Didn’t Know Mom’s Money was Stolen

Tears could be seen in the seconds after a judge ruled on whether or not a La Salle woman knew her mom was paying her credit card bill with stolen money. However, they were tears of joy.

Judge Daniel Bute took about 10 minutes to explain his reasoning before ultimately declaring 30-year old Ashia Kolodziej “not guilty.” She had been accused of knowing nearly $300,000 that her mother gave her over several years had been stolen from J.B. Contracting.

States’ Attorney Brian Towne begrudgingly accepted Bute’s ruling before saying he would “never believe” that the defendant thought that amount of money “was something her middle-class family could give.”

While today’s ruling was a high point for the family, it’s not all good news. Kolodziej’s mother, Connie Steinbach, remains in prison on a 7-year sentence after pleading guilty to stealing more than $1 million from J.B. Contracting.