Judge Jails Credit Union Executive Who Stole $2 Million

 

Michigan judge jails credit union executive who stole $2 million during the last 17 years.

Kathryn Sue the embezzler of Muskegon County’s credit union is going to spend six and a half years in a federal prison. The sentence has been imposed on Monday January 4 by Judge Robert Holmes Bell. The woman has been found guilty of embezzling a federally insured credit union.

Simmerman, 55, was working at the member-owned credit union since 1987. Starting from 2006 she became chief executive, a position she kept until she was fired last February. Her thefts have been discovered last year by auditors and investigators.

The judge has sentenced her to another five years for structuring but she is going to serve those at the same time with the primary sentence. In order to avoid the federal reporting the women has been making deposits smaller than $10,000 into more accounts.

Besides the prison time she is going to serve judge Bell has also ordered the full restitution of $1.945 million which she will have to pay until the end of her life. According to her attorneys, Simmerman has already paid $115,000 this week and she will pay up to $200,000 by the end of the year.

The judge refused Simmerman’s request to report later to the federal prison after her lodging would be arranged and ordered her to remain in U.S. Marshal Service’s custody starting immediately. The procedure of later reporting directly to a prison is a usual arrangement for non-violent convicts and not even the prosecutors opposed to it.

However the judge decided to sentence the woman to only six years and a half in prison which is one year less than Clay Stiffler, Assistant U.S. Attorney has requested.

Before hearing her sentence Simmerman held a speech in which she has apologized for her actions to her family, to the members of her community and especially to the employees and members of the credit union. She said that she is the most sorry for breaking her parents’ hearts and promised to work her entire life to make amends for her actions.

However the judge was not impressed by her statement, noting that her embezzlements were made of 433 separate acts. The woman has been stealing cash from the vault, she was giving the stolen money to other employees to deposit in her account but also in the accounts of her husband and her two sons and she has broken the law several times by falsifying the books with the goal of fooling the auditors.

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