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Woman sentenced to 3 years in burglary case
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MONROE - A woman convicted in the 2014 burglary of a rural Green County home was sentenced Nov. 27 to three years in prison and eight years on extended supervision for revoking her probation in the case.

Heather Kay Murphy, 40, formerly of Monticello, was originally sentenced in July 2016 in Green County Circuit Court to 30 months on probation for the Class F felony conviction of burglary.

The criminal complaint indicates she burglarized a home in the N9400 block of County O, located between New Glarus and Belleville, on Sept. 24, 2014. She took gold rings, gold chains and other jewelry valued at about $2,500 and sold them for cash.

The couple living at the home told police that along with the jewelry, Murphy took a jewelry box that was a family heirloom.

The couple wrote in a statement to the court, "We've long considered our home to be the place we felt safe. We felt violated after this incident. It took a long time to regain this sense of security.

"It is our sincere hope that the defendant turns her life around and becomes a solid citizen with a sense of pride."

That has yet to happen, according to Murphy's probation agent.

Between April and July, Murphy stole money from her boyfriend's stepmother, ingested crack cocaine and marijuana and tampered with a court-ordered urine drug test.

"Ms. Murphy continues to engage in the same behavior as the reason she was placed on probation in the first place. She continues to take things that don't belong to her and she minimizes the seriousness of her behavior," the probation agent wrote in a report. "Ms. Murphy needs to be provided with a clear message that her continued criminal behavior will not be tolerated."

Court records show Murphy was most recently living in Cudahy. She committed similar burglaries and thefts in Dane, Columbia and Juneau counties around the same time as the Green County burglary, so her prison sentence is not the end of her legal trouble. A warrant is issued for her arrest in Dane County, and she is scheduled to be sentenced for revoking probations in Columbia and Juneau counties.

In September, she was charged in Milwaukee County on a Class H felony count of misappropriating ID information to obtain money. That case is scheduled for sentencing next week.