Ahlgren pleas guilty to embezzlement from bank

GRAND RAPIDS – Stacy Lynn Ahlgren, a former employee of Northwestern Bank in Ludington, has pleaded guilty to embezzlement, according to Mlive.com. The longtime employee took nearly $900,000 from the bank over five years.

Ahlgren made her first appearance in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan Thursday. She pleaded guilty as charged to embezzlement from an insured bank, a federal crime, Mlive.com reported.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker continued her $50,000 bond with the additional condition that she get no new credit extensions of $500 or more without the approval of a probation officer; she posted the bond.

Sentencing is scheduled for April 8 at 2 p.m. in the Grand Rapids federal court.

The plea is pursuant to an earlier plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Grand Rapids, Mlive.com stated. In that agreement, Ahlgren, also known as Stacy Lynn Kimble, agreed to pay full restitution and continue cooperating with prosecutors.

The crime is punishable by up to 30 years in federal prison, but in the plea agreement the U.S. Attorney’s office agreed not to object to a defense request for a lighter sentence.

In the plea agreement, Ahlgren admitted embezzling $873,589.76 from the bank from 2007 through 2011, with the amounts rising each year from $140,866.45 in 2007 to $188,591.52 in 2011.

Ahlgren worked at two branch locations of Northwestern Bank in Ludington. By 2006 she was the senior customer service representative, giving her sole responsibility over the bank vault in the branch at 101 E. Court St.

According to the plea agreement, she stole cash, cashier’s checks and money orders from her teller drawer at least weekly. The embezzlement would take place in an area she knew was not caught on security cameras. She concealed the scheme by preparing false bank-vault audit sheets and by periodically falsifying the vault balance in the bank’s computer system.