LANSING – On June 14, 2023, in the Ingham County Circuit Court Amanda Root was sentenced to 42 months in prison on one count of embezzlement of $100,000 or more and two counts of filing false tax returns, announced Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. Additionally, her sentence 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, of St. Johns, pled guilty to the counts in April.
Amanda Root worked for Glenn Buege GMC Buick for many years and oversaw accounts receivable and accounts payable. The State believes 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 Amanda Root worked at was closing, she confessed the embezzlement to 3 different people, admitting to taking at least $250,000 to cover gambling losses. Root failed to claim the additional income on her taxes. She had been charged with four counts of embezzlement and four counts of filing a false tax return.
“This conviction is the result of great collaborative work by our partners at the Michigan State Police and the Michigan Department of Treasury,” Nessel said. “Family-owned businesses and other small or local interests can be irreparably devastated by embezzlement on this scale from their own trusted employees, and I am grateful to all three departments involved here for helping to secure justice in this significant theft.”
The Department of Attorney General collaborated with the Michigan Department of Treasury and the Michigan State Police in the investigation.
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