Plea of Guilty To Hospital Embezzlement
Jeffrey Joseph Ales, a 43-year-old contracted worker who formerly supervised the food and nutrition services at Munson Medical Center in Traverse City, pled guilty to Traverse City embezzlement charges in the Grand Traverse County Circuit Court on Friday, June 13th.
Authorities at Munson Medical Center claim that the alleged improprieties mostly occurred in 2013, but may have happened as far back as 2009. Ales was suspended from his job at the hospital in October 2013, where he had worked on contract through Sodexo since May 2008.
Hospital authorities claim that Ales misused a hospital credit card that was entrusted to him, along with a membership account at a local retailer, for the purposes of purchasing gift cards and gasoline for personal use. Apparently Ales has embezzled about $27,000 to date.
On May 5th, Ales appeared in the Grand Traverse County District Court, where he waived his right to a preliminary hearing and entered a plea of not guilty to a charge of embezzlement from a non-profit agency, which is a ten-year felony. However, at the most recent hearing, Ales pled guilty to a single charge of embezzlement of more than $1,000 but less that $20,000, which is a lesser felony punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
In addition to possible prison time, under Michigan law the court can order a defendant to pay fines of up to $10,000.00, or 3 times the value of the money embezzled, whichever amount is greater.
According to court documents, Ales will be required to pay $21,009 in restitution payments. He is scheduled for sentencing on July 11th.