An Underwood woman has pleaded guilty to felony theft for taking money from a Florida man who believed she was a surrogate mother and pregnant with his child.

Randi R. Backer, also known as Randi R. Linderman, pleaded guilty to Class C felony theft of property Wednesday morning at the McLean County Courthouse, McLean County State's Attorney Ladd Erickson said.

South Central District Judge Bruce Haskell sentenced Backer to a three-year deferred sentence and three years of supervised probation as part of a plea agreement, Erickson said.

He said Backer also was ordered to pay $10,000 restitution to Eduardo Martinez, the Florida man who hired Backer to carry his child. She had to pay $5,000 Wednesday, and the rest of the money has to be paid by Feb. 15, 2008, Erickson said.

According to court documents, Backer and Martinez met over the Internet and reached an agreement that Backer would carry a child for Martinez for monthly payments of $2,350.

Martinez sent semen samples to Backer on April 6, 2006, and she told him she had artificially inseminated herself at home. She later told him she had a positive pregnancy test.

Backer e-mailed Martinez to tell him about doctor appointments, and Martinez sent her money for the checkups, court documents said.

Backer later e-mailed Martinez an ultrasound in July, and authorities believe the fetus in the ultrasound appeared to be about four to five months along, documents said. The baby would have been 11 to 12 weeks along if Backer had artificially inseminated herself in April.

Backer later told Martinez that her pregnancy was terminated and her tubes were tied after she experienced bleeding, documents said. Backer delivered a child on Nov. 30; the father is listed on a birth certificate as Matthew Backer, Randi Backer's husband, documents said.

The case was investigated after Martinez, of Miami Beach, Fla., complained to McLean County authorities.

The charge against Backer, 25, was a Class B felony, because the money involved in the case was more than $10,000. However, Backer pleaded guilty to Class C felony theft as part of a plea agreement.

Erickson said he offered the plea agreement, which includes no jail time, because Martinez, who runs a business in Miami Beach, Fla., did not want to come to North Dakota for a trial.

"It was going to cost him time and money," Erickson said. "The bottom line is he just really did not want to come up."

Martinez was satisfied with the settlement, he said.

(Reach reporter Jenny Michael at 250-8225 or jenny.michael@;bismarcktribune.com.)