Woman sentenced for embezzling from nursing facility
It appears gambling problem led to thefts
It appears a gambling habit motivated a 47-yearold Clinton Township woman to pilfer over $70,000 from the nursing home at which she worked as the business manager.
Tina Coleman was sentenced Thursday to six months in jail and two years probation by Macomb Circuit Judge Matthew Sabaugh for embezzling $73,000 from a Clinton Township nursing home, according to court records. She pleaded guilty in December to embezzlement by an agent or trustee between $1,000 and $20,000 after she was initially charged with a higher offense, embezzlement between $20,000 and $100,000.
Coleman stole the money over four years from 2017 to 2021 from LakePointe Senior Care and Rehabilitation Center in Clinton Township while employed as the facility’s business manager, according to Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. She wrote 65 unauthorized checks to five individuals valued at a total of $73,000 who cashed them for her, Nessel said in a news release. LakePointe discovered the thefts during an audit conducted after discrepancies were noticed in September 2021, she said.
The Attorney General’s Health Care Fraud Division prosecuted the case.
“Seniors and their families entrust these residential facilities, and their employees, with their lives and livelihoods,” Attorney General Dana Nessel said in the release. “Coleman violated that trust, and I am grateful that Judge Sabaugh recognized the severity of that crime.”
It appears Coleman had a gambling problem as Sabaugh ordered she refrain from gambling or entering “gambling facilities,” and continue attending Gambling Anonymous meetings twice a week, records say. She also must complete a class on impulse control.
She was ordered to pay 73,000 in restitution by making monthly payments of at least $550 per month released from jail.