FORMER LANDFILL EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR PRISON SENTENCING

By DEBRA HAIGHT

BCR Correspondent

NILES – News came this week and last in two high profile embezzlement cases.

This week, former Southeast Berrien County Landfill general manager Clyde “Sonny” Fuller was sentenced to prison for embezzlement. Last week, the Michigan Court of Appeals turned down former Southwestern Michigan Community Ambulance Service director Tim Gray’s appeal of his 2016 conviction.

Fuller, 47, of Able Road in Buchanan, was sentenced Monday for embezzling nearly $250,000 from the municipally-owned landfill in Bertrand Township. The landfill is owned by the cities of Niles and Buchanan and Bertrand, Buchanan and Niles townships.

Fuller pleaded guilty in March to one count of embezzlement over $100,000 along with a co-defendant, Terry Snow of Eau Claire. Last month, Snow was sentenced to 20 months in prison while Fuller’s sentencing was postponed until Monday to give him the chance to sell property which he hasn’t been able to do.

Berrien County Trial Judge Charles LaSata agreed with Chief Assistant Prosecutor Jennifer Smith that Fuller’s sentence should be greater than Snow’s as Fuller was the leader in the embezzlement scheme and Snow was the first to acknowledge what he did. Smith noted that Fuller still hasn’t taken responsibility or showed remorse.

Monday, LaSata sentenced Fuller to a prison term of 32 months to 20 years which was within the sentencing guidelines. He has credit for 38 days already served and must pay $258 in fines and costs and just under $294,000 in restitution which also includes other charges the landfill incurred.

The embezzlement occurred between December 2016 and June 2017 and was discovered by Niles Township Trustee and landfill board member Herschel Hoese who questioned large payments to an unknown company. Investigators uncovered the fact that Fuller and Snow had set up a shell company and funneled nearly $250,000 to it from the landfill.

With family and friends in attendance in court, Fuller apologized for his actions. “All my life I’ve done everything I could to do good in the community,” he said. “I humbly apologize … I’m truly sorry that this happened. I’m very disappointed in myself.”

When asked what he did with the money taken, Fuller said he paid off some debt he had and then helped out his sister who is undergoing cancer treatments.

LaSata noted Fuller’s service including years as a reserve police officer and volunteer firefighter. “You’re not an evil person, you’ve served the community but this severe breach of trust caused problems for the landfill board,” he said. “When you serve in the public arena and are in charge of public funds, you need to hold yourself to a higher standard.”

“Although you’ve accomplished a lot of things, this occurred over months, it was not a one time snap decision,” the judge added. “You have a character flaw that has kept you from accepting responsibility for your actions. You’re not getting it and acknowledging and owning your criminal behavior.”

In the Gray case, the Michigan Court of Appeals denied former SMCAS Executive Director Timothy Gray’s appeal of his 2016 embezzlement conviction. The three judge panel also affirmed his January 2017 sentence of 180 days in jail and five years probation.

A jury found Gray guilty of embezzlement after a two-week trial in November 2016. They concluded that he took excessive payments totaling more than $50,000 for paid time off, holiday pay, dental and vision reimbursement and short-term disability from 2009 to 2014.

Gray’s appellate attorney, Timothy Doman, appealed the conviction which resulted in the Court of Appeals remanding it back to Berrien County Trial Judge Angela Pasula late last year to hear Gray’s request for a new trial. Pasula ruled in January that the trial verdict was not “against the great weight of the evidence.”

Doman had primarily taken issue with the testimony of forensic auditor David Marshall, saying that Marshall was inexperienced and made mistakes including never reviewing a SMCAS budget, past audits or interviewing Gray.

The COA analyzed Gray’s appeal on two fronts: the sufficiency of the evidence and the great weight of the evidence. Doman had claimed that the evidence was insufficient to support a jury’s verdict. Further, he said that even if the evidence was found to be minimally sufficient, the jury’s verdict was contrary to the “great weight of the evidence.”

Relative to Marshall’s testimony, the Court of Appeals noted that while Marshall conceded that he had adjusted his findings after discovering new information, his conclusions about Gray’s actions remained after the original defense counsel explored the issue.

“The prosecution … presented sufficient evidence to establish that defendant dishonestly converted more than $50,000 of Southwestern’s money to his own use, without the consent of Southwestern, and with the intent to defraud Southwestern,” the court stated.

“… Defendant points to alleged errors in Marshall’s calculations, but the forensic accounting conducted by Marshall demonstrating numerous overpayments to defendant and the implausibility of defendant’s explanations strongly suggested that defendant manipulated his position to obtain unauthorized compensation.”