Ex-MCE business manager, Bacon, expected to plea

LUDINGTON — Robert Bacon, the former Mason County Eastern Schools business manager, is expected to agree to a plea agreement Wednesday in 51st Circuit Court. On March 20 Bacon turned down a plea agreement from the Mason County prosecutor’s office and was scheduled for trial in May.

Bacon is charged with one count of embezzlement, and allegedly stole $96,000 when he was employed as the Mason County Eastern School District business manager between 2003 and 2011.

According to an investigation performed by the Michigan State Police and a forensic accounting prepared at the request of the school district, the Mason County Prosecutor’s Office alleges Bacon embezzled just over $96,000 during his tenure at the school.

In March Bacon chose not to accept the prosecutor’s plea agreement of serving one year in the Mason County Jail and paying $19,000 in restitution to MCE.

The felony is punishable by up to 10 years confinement. The Custer Township resident is scheduled to appear in front of Judge Richard Cooper at 1:45 p.m.