Ex-state candidate in Oakland County gets probation for embezzling $149K
A candidate from Oakland County for a Michigan House seat last fall has been sentenced to probation and community service for embezzling.
The sentencing came after Jennifer Suidan pleaded no contest last month to embezzling $100,000 or more from the campaign funds of Oakland County Treasurer Andy Meisner. Under the law, a no-contest plea is treated the same as a guilty plea.
Suidan could have received a prison term of as many as 20 years. Instead, she is to serve five years probation and perform 100 hours of community service, write apology letters and pay back more than $140,000 in stolen funds, according to the sentence pronounced Tuesday by Oakland Circuit Judge Nanci Grant and detailed in court records.
What drew widespread attention to the case was that Democratic Party officials were powerless to force Suidan to withdraw from November’s election. Instead, her name remained on the ballots for the 39th House District – comprising Commerce Township, part of West Bloomfield, the city of Wixom and the village of Wolverine Lake – because the crime came to light too late to remove her name, election officials said at the time.
Read more: https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/oakland/2019/04/30/oakland-county-ex-state-house-candidate-sentenced-embezzling-michigan/3634039002/