In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting at-risk preschool children in West Michigan suffered a significant financial blow, losing over $1 million due to embezzlement. The woman at the center of this scandal, Sharon Kay Killebrew, is now facing more than four years in prison for her role in the crime.
Killebrew, who served as a bookkeeper, collaborated with an accomplice to steal from the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative over a period of several years. This fraudulent activity ultimately led to the closure of the organization, according to court records.
Federal prosecutors, in their sentencing memorandum, highlighted the extent of the scheme, stating that the culprits “left almost no stone unturned in their quest to siphon money.”
The funds misappropriated by Killebrew and her partner were originally intended to provide essential services for children, such as breakfast, lunch, and transportation to and from preschool, officials have asserted.
At-risk kids in Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek were harmed by the fraud, which was called “as widespread as it was brazen.”
U.S. District Court Judge Hala Y. Jarbou on Tuesday sentenced Killebrew to 54 months in prison and ordered she pay restitution of more than $1.4 million.
Recipients of the restitution include the Early Head Start program, the IRS and three foundations located in Kalamazoo, Battle Creek and Grand Rapids.
Once Killebrew is released from prison, she will spend two years on supervised release.
Killebrew’s criminal behavior cost 35 people their jobs and left West Michigan families without needed services, the ELNC Board of Directors wrote in a statement.
“It is heartbreaking such a critical resource has been stripped away so needlessly from our community due to the actions of Sharon Killebrew and others, who still must answer for their actions,” the statement reads.
In a sentencing memorandum, Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Stiffler noted that those most affected by the crime were the children and their families who lost the support ELNC once provided.
“These were mostly children of color under the age of five years old, 72% of whom lived below the federal poverty level in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Kent County, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek,” Stiffler wrote.
Killebrew pleaded guilty earlier this year to conspiracy to commit theft and tax evasion, in part for failing to file tax returns over eight years.
Investigators say she conspired between 2016 and 2023 to embezzle and convert to her own use $1.17 million from ELNC. A federal plea agreement says she created fake invoices and disbursed the money to herself and an unnamed co-conspirator.
“While Ms. Killebrew kept ‘only’ $206,100 of the proceeds for herself, she directly participated in the theft of the remainder of the money,” Stiffler wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
Killebrew’s attorney asked for leniency, saying his client “is a very giving person who always puts the interests of others ahead of her own.”
Letters on her behalf “depict the defendant as a good person whose decisions in the instant case did not reflect a lifetime of good works,” defense attorney Mark Dodge wrote.
Despite having no criminal record, prosecutors asked for a strong sentence, noting the amount of money she stole and the vulnerable status of the victims.
“Ms. Killebrew not only personally benefited from the fraud against ELNC, but she also concealed the fraud she did not personally benefit from,” Stiffler wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
The federal charges against Killebrew carried up to five years in prison each and three years of supervised release.
In its last reporting year, ELNC helped support more than 400 children and their families, while over the lifetime of its existence it helped nearly 8,000 children, court documents show.
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