Nearly three years and hundreds of thousands of dollars in missing money later, a one-time, small-town hero is ready to be an ex-con.

Former Pilger Village Clerk Kimberly Neiman is scheduled to be released from a Lincoln work release center any day now, according to the Nebraska Department of Corrections website.

Pilger Fire Chief Korey Koehlmoos tells News Channel Nebraska that Neiman wrote him a letter asking for her old job back on the all-volunteer department. Koehlmoos indicated the request will be considered but not necessarily granted.

Neiman was initially accused of writing $718,835 in what District Court Judge James Kube called “sham” village payments to questionable collection agencies.

During her sentencing Kube told Neiman all that missing money, much of it first reported exclusively by News Channel Nebraska, had him perplexed.

(View NCN's exclusive investigation above]

Judge Kube: I don’t get it; I feel kind of dense that I don’t understand this.  Has any of this money been recovered at all?

Prosecutor Bret Lammli: Your honor, the FBI wouldn’t help, or we never heard back from them to our request; without that kind of help hard pretty difficult to trace down international money.

Neiman’s attorney: Sean Brennan: There was no evidence that she received any financial benefit at all.

Judge Kube: The amount is staggering.

With authorities unable to track the money down, Neiman was able to cut a plea deal, and was convicted of attempted theft.

In 2014 Neiman was hailed as the town’s hero, the glue that kept Pilger going following devastating twin tornadoes.

During the massive clean-up to get the town back on its feet, Neiman wrote dozens of checks that to this day are unexplained, included a one-time mystery man, and put her behind bars for three years.

First incarcerated at the women’s prison in York, after 71 days Neiman was transferred to the less restrictive Community Corrections Center in Lincoln.

Corrections officials told NCN the reasons for Neiman’s transfer “could not be released.”

According to corrections records her sentence was shortened by 191 days because of so-called “good time.

Those records also indicate Neiman is due to be released Friday.