Sioux Falls Man Sentenced to Probation for Stealing Checks from Dempsey’s Brewery in Watertown
Northeast Radio SD News – Watertown, SD - A Sioux Falls man has been sentenced to probation after pleading guilty to stealing checks from a Watertown brewery while working on the premises as an overnight cleaner.
Stephen Mark Donahue, of Sioux Falls, was sentenced in Codington County on August 19, 2026. The conviction stems from an incident that occurred overnight on June 5, 2026, at Dempsey’s Brewery Pub in Watertown. According to an affidavit, the pub had hired Extreme Cleaning - Sioux Falls Hood Cleaners to work overnight. Surveillance video and still images captured Donahue, a cleaning employee, going through the business’s front till and loitering near a safe in the back room.
Over the weekend following the cleaning shift, two stolen checks belonging to Dempsey’s were cashed at First Interstate Bank branches in Sioux Falls. The checks, which featured forged signatures, were made out to a woman named Jazzmin Jennings for the amounts of $932.51 and $2,480.
Jennings was later arrested by the Sioux Falls Police Department while attempting to cash a third stolen check. During her arrest, Jennings admitted that she knew the checks were stolen and told officers that her roommate, Donahue, had taken them from the brewery. Authorities subsequently confirmed Donahue’s identity by matching his driver’s license photo to the surveillance footage provided by the brewery.
Donahue was initially indicted by a grand jury on charges of second-degree burglary, grand theft, and identity theft. In August 2026, Donahue accepted a plea agreement negotiated by Codington County State’s Attorney Alison Trauba and defense attorney Scott R. Bratland. Under the terms of the agreement, Donahue pleaded guilty to grand theft and identity theft. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed the second-degree burglary charge.
During sentencing, a judge handed Donahue a five-year state penitentiary sentence for grand theft and a concurrent two-year penitentiary sentence for identity theft. However, the judge suspended the execution of both prison sentences. Donahue was instead ordered to serve three years of adult probation, which is scheduled to run until August 2029.
Additionally, the court ordered Donahue to pay $3,529.01 in total financial assessments. This total includes $3,412.51 in direct restitution, alongside various court costs and victim compensation fees.
