Former Warren County Assessor Wendy (Nordwald) Kozma was ordered to provide financial records, including tax returns dating back to 2017, during a court hearing held July 18.

Kozma’s probation hearing was rescheduled for Dec. 5 as she attempts to avoid prison time.

Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Grant Folkmann had previously filed a motion for a continuance on July 14. 

In that motion he stated Kozma had made payments towards her restitution and the state was still awaiting a ruling on a motion for discovery to compel Kozma to produce financial documents. 

According to Warren County Prosecuting Attorney Rodney McKinney, Kozma has paid roughly $13,000 in restitution to date. 

Kozma, who now lives in Florida, was convicted of 15 counts of stealing in 2022 for embezzling over $250,000 from the Missouri State Assessors Association. She was sentenced to pay $213,000 in restitution and four months in prison in lieu of a 10-year prison sentence. 

She was called back into court in December 2024 for lack of payment on her restitution. This is the second time she will face a hearing to revoke her probation as her probation was previously upheld in a separate hearing in 2023. 

“On July 18, 2025, the court granted the State’s request and ordered Nordwald to give prosecutors financial documents including her federal tax returns and those of her husband from 2017 to present within 60 days. The documents are sought because Nordwald has claimed that she has been unable to pay at least $1,200 a month toward outstanding restitution owed, which the Court had ordered back in 2023,” said McKinney. 

In previous hearings, Kozma said she receives a $500 monthly pension from the Missouri County Employees Retirement Fund. Since the prosecution had not yet received the financial documents they requested, they felt Kozma would be better off spending her money on restitution payments than purchasing a plane ticket to reappear in court. 

She was represented at the hearing by her attorney, Ella Boone-Conley, who argued Kozma did not have all of the requested records from her previous marriage and was still awaiting a decision on a disability claim in Florida. 

Boone-Conley further argued that if the state wanted those documents, they should have requested them during Kozma’s original trial. 

Folkmann disagreed and said since Kozma signed a plea agreement, the state was operating in good faith that Kozma would pay restitution. 

“We didn’t file for discovery because we didn’t think she wouldn’t honor the agreement she signed,” said Folkmann. 

He also refuted that Kozma did not have access to the financial records they were requesting, saying “it’s not like the tax records from 2017 vanished.”

Folkmann said the state required the documents to assess whether Kozma is really unable to pay her restitution. 

Judge Brandt upheld the state’s motion to compel saying Kozma should be able to obtain the documents, and given the previous issues with lack of payment, the need for tax returns was reasonable. 

“The payments have been paltry and sparse,” said Brandt. “From the beginning of probation she has not been consistent on regular payments.”

All parties did not see a reason to meet again prior to the 60-day deadline set by Brandt so long as restitution payments continue. Folkmann did say if payments stop, the state may motion for a sooner hearing. 

He also clarified the state had not dismissed its motion to revoke Kozma’s probation and planned to move forward with the case.