UPDATE: https://mikeandjonpodcast.com/charges-remain-in-whitmore-lake-embezzlement-case-records-snafu-blamed-for-error/
ORIGINAL STORY:
Charges have been dropped against a Wayne County woman charged with embezzling from her employer in Whitmore Lake.
Kendra Marie Lewis, 42, of Redford, had been accused of stealing more than $176,000 from Big Ike’s Roofing Co., where she worked as the office manager.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel had publicly announced the charges last December, saying the owner of the company discovered that Lewis was embezzling when a new office manager was hired.
Nessel said Lewis was believed to have embezzled approximately $176,653 in 2020 and 2021 by writing checks payable to herself and then recording them in the business ledger as being payable to various vendors for lesser amounts.
“Theft, especially that which targets our state’s small businesses, causes harm to individual proprietors and drives up prices for all the community’s residents,” Nessel said. “I will not hesitate to prosecute those who break the law.”
However, according to court records, the charges were dropped on June 14, when an order of Nolle Prosequi was entered. Nolle prosequi is a legal notice or entry of record that the prosecutor has decided to abandon the prosecution.
No reason was provided and a request for comment to Nessel’s office was not returned.
Lewis had been bound over for trial on a single count of embezzlement of $100,000 or more, a 20-year felony, and two counts of failure to file taxes, 5-year felonies.
However, Judge Arianne E. Slay of the Washtenaw County Circuit Court entered an order June 21, removing the case against Lewis from the Law Enforcement Information Network (LEIN).
