A former city of Fraser employee who stole $90,000 from the city has accumulated $70,000 to repay the city, with plans to pay back the full amount, according to her attorney.
Elias Muawad, the attorney for Michele Kwiatkowski, told Macomb County Circuit Judge Diane Druzinski on Tuesday the funds have been placed in a trust account and are set to be transferred this week to the court for distribution to the city.
“I’ve got some good news for the court,” Muawad told Druzinski. “I’ve got $70,000 in a trust account.”
“Wow, wow,” Druzinski responded.
Convicted embezzlers typically don’t often repay that much of a stolen amount that quickly. For example, earlier this week, WJBK-TV (Fox 2) reported that a federal judge ruled Kwame Kilpatrick, the embattled former mayor of Detroit, has paid less than $5,000 of a more than $1 million restitution he owes the city.
“She is taking this very seriously,” Muawad continued. “She wants the court and Fraser to understand that she wants to put his behind her. She is very serious about that. … By the end of the week, we will be paying $70,000 toward that restitution.”
Kwiatkowski, 58, of Addison Township, was given a deferred sentence in which the charge will be reduced from embezzlement over $100,000 to embezzlement between $20,000 and $50,000 if she fully pays restitution within 11 months, a probationary term. A hearing was set for Jan. 7, 2025.
Kwiatkowski, who worked for the city for 28 years, was a system administrator when she stole the funds by using a city-issued American Express credit card to buy things such as purses, dresses, shoes and household items. She was originally accused of pilfering $120,000 but it was reduced to $90,000 through closer examination of the records.
Kwiatkowski apologized for “wasting the court’s time.”
“I made a mistake,” she said. “You won’t see me again on another charge.”
Druzinski pushed back on Kwiatkowski’s description of her actions as “a mistake.”
“I think a mistake maybe could’ve been $1,000, not the second, third, four, 80th thousand dollars,” Druzinski said. “I think that’s past the point of making a mistake.”
The city also is expected to pursue revoking a part of Kwiatkowski’s pension, proportional to the four to five years during which she stole.
City officials could not be reached for comment Tuesday afternoon.
Kwiatkowski was among three female city employees who filed a state whistleblower sexual-harassment lawsuit against the city and the mayor and a councilman in 2017. The case was settled for an unknown amount of money, if any, and the elected officials were removed by a tribunal.
Kwiatkowski’s alleged embezzlement took place under the management of former city manager Donald Wayne O’Neal, who was later fired. O’Neal was accused of failing to crack down on the improper use of city-issued credit cards, cell phones and vehicles by employees. In 2020 he filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the city; the parties reached an undisclosed settlement.
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