LANSING (WWJ) – A Lansing-area woman has been sentenced to more than three years in prison for embezzling more than $400,000 from the car dealership where she worked and using the money to gamble.
Amanda Root of St. Johns – just north of Lansing – was sentenced to 42 months in prison on Wednesday. She pleaded guilty in April to one count of embezzlement of $100,000 or more and two counts of filing false tax returns.
Her sentence also includes restitution in the amount of $459,645.70 paid to the victim, the victim's insurance companies, and the Michigan Department of Treasury.
Root, 42, worked for Glenn Buege GMC Buick in Eaton Rapids for many years and oversaw accounts receivable and accounts payable, according to Attorney General Dana Nessel's office.
Officials believe she used her position to embezzle more than $420,000 in cash from the dealership between 2016 and 2019 to gamble.
When the Glenn Buege location she worked at was closing, Root confessed the embezzlement to three different people, admitting to taking at least $250,000 to cover gambling losses, the AG's office said.
Root failed to claim the additional income on her taxes. She had initially been charged with four counts of embezzlement and four counts of filing a false tax return before taking the plea.
"Family-owned businesses and other small or local interests can be irreparably devastated by embezzlement on this scale from their own trusted employees," Nessel said in a press release.
The Department of Attorney General collaborated with the Michigan Department of Treasury and the Michigan State Police in the investigation.
