Former bank employee’s sentencing postponed

GRAND RAPIDS – The sentencing of Stacy Lynn Ahlgren, a former employee of Northwestern Bank in Ludington, was postponed until  April 17 at 2 p.m. in Grand Rapids federal court. Ahlgren pleaded guilty to embezzlement in December 2012.  The longtime bank employee took nearly $900,000 from the bank over five years.

U.S. District Judge Robert J. Jonker placed Ahlgren on a $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.

The plea was pursuant to an earlier plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Grand Rapids. 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.