Schmidt sentenced in REMAX Elite embezzlement
Jill Renee Schmidt, 46, of Sturgis, is serving two years probation and one day in prison for embezzling more than $ 183,000 from former employer REMAX Elite Group, where she worked for 14 years.
Company spokeswoman Ryanne Wise told St. Joseph County District Court Judge Paul Stutesman that the company was “stunned” by an earlier deal by then Attorney General John McDonough.
Wise said the company had not been consulted prior to the September 2019 agreement that allowed a non-competitive plea for a five-year crime with parole and no prison. A more serious 20 year crime was released.
“He turned the tables,” Wise said of McDonough.
In the plea agreement, Schmidt was given more than a year to make redress in order to further reduce the charge to one offense. No payment was made.
Schmidt’s attorney Jeff Schroeder said Schmidt has deposited funds into an account and will make payments. “I have the money. I am saving the money,” she told the judge. “That’s what I work for.”
She is currently working as a corporate controller. Schröder said her new employer was aware of the embezzlement case.
Stutesman told REMAX Elite Group the problem could lie in Lansing, where lawmakers have classified embezzlement as one of the least serious crimes in the state.
“You can steal $ 100,000 from your employer over four years without going to jail and getting nothing,” said Stutesman. “If a child or young man steals his neighbor’s golf clubs, he will go to jail for months.”
“This is crazy because he went inside,” Stutesman continued. “Who has broken more trust over the years than the under camp compared to stealing something tangible that had no meaning? But exactly the opposite is being treated.”
Schmidt worked from 2008 to October 2017 as a manager and controller in the property company’s Three Rivers office. Schmidt was fired due to personal conflicts with some new employees. Accounting questions arose and the Michigan State Police were called to investigate. Discrepancies were found with changes to Quickbook accounts. She’d written herself over $ 30,000 in checks from the company’s two offices. Company funds were used to pay off $ 35,000 of their credit card expenses. Corporate credit cards have been used to charge at least $ 95,000 for their usage. The company said she wrote to herself more than $ 22,000 more in bonus checks than she earned.
In one case, she alleged that $ 17,450 had been paid for billboards. The company said it was only given $ 500.
Stutesman sent her to a counseling center and “embezzlement group” to find out why she committed the crime. He ordered the assignment of wages for restitution. The trial period can be extended to five years or shortened to one year.
Stutesman noted that unless she was found to be able to pay and willfully not doing so, she could not break parole for failure to pay.