Well, I'd always assumed that she'd been caught sneaking into the prison in the first place-seeing as I seemed to spend an unlikely proportion of my time doing just that afterwards. Maybe she just kept violating her bond when she kept attempting to steal back her confiscated goods?
My other (older) character (Breton mage) was thrown out of "Bretonia" (An independant nation in the sky) for being too awesome, and also exceeding the strict level cap. Thusly stripped of her powers and position, she was forced to begin anew, as an adult magicks merchant- selling various enchanted, uhm, *wares* to the ladies and gentlemen of the Imperial City.
Upon accidentally attempting to peddle her goods to members of the Cyrodil Conservative Party, she found herself locked up in a wave of controversy and CONSPIRACIES
This was all to explain her high mercantile stat, mind- her backstory actually gets quite convoluted when you start to dive into the rest of it.