Wayne, MI - Yesterday, Kendra Lewis, 42, of Wayne, pled no contest to Embezzlement by an Agent of $50,000-$100,000 and two counts of Making/Permitting a False Tax Return, while agreeing to a restitution order in the amount of $197,464, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced.
The Department of Attorney General prosecuted Lewis for embezzling approximately $176,653 in 2020 and 2021 while employed as the office manager of Big Ike’s Roofing Co., located in Whitmore Lake. The owner of the company discovered that Lewis was embezzling when a new office manager was hired at his company. Lewis wrote checks payable to herself and recorded them in the business checkbook ledger as being payable to various business vendors for significantly smaller sums.
Lewis has agreed to a restitution order of $176,653 to her former employer’s estate and $20,810 to the Michigan Department of Treasury for 2020-2021 taxes, penalties, and interest. Approximately $48,000 was seized from Lewis’ home during the investigation, and Lewis has agreed to forfeit that sum toward outstanding restitution.
“Those who steal from small businesses not only hurt the owners of those establishments, but also harm consumers by driving up the cost of doing business in our state,” said Nessel when announcing the charges last December.
Judge Arianne E. Slay will sentence Lewis on August 28th at 1:30 PM in the Washtenaw County Circuit Court.