A Portage man will have to pay back the more than $125,000 he embezzled from his former employer after pleading guilty to criminal charges Tuesday.
Mark Hartmann
Courtesy of WCSO
Mark Hartmann, 36, pleaded guilty to one charge of embezzlement between $50,000 and $100,000 in exchange for one count of embezzlement of more than $100,000 being dropped. Washtenaw County Trial Court Judge Donald Shelton accepted his plea and a sentencing agreement that allows Hartmann to avoid incarceration.
Hartmann admitted to taking rent money from the Huron Towers apartment complex in Ann Arbor for personal use.
“Yes, I did,” Hartmann said when Shelton asked him if he had embezzled $125,113.85 from the apartment complex.
Hartmann was charged on April 22 with the original count of embezzling more than $100,000. The embezzlement took place between January 2009 and October 2010, according to the Ann Arbor police report.
Hartmann worked as a leasing manager and an assistant manager from August 2007 until October 2010 at the complex. He was fired after the embezzlement was discovered.
According to the police report, Hartmann would forge the complex manager’s signature on checks he made out to himself and then deposit them in his account. Hartmann was responsible for paying bills and had access to the Huron Towers’ petty cash account.
There were at least 75 unauthorized withdrawals from a bank account belonging to Huron Towers discovered by police. Many of the payments went to DTE Energy, Sam’s Club or Hartmann himself. Purchases were also made at the Pittsfield Township Lowe’s location and the Ypsilanti Township Walmart.
Hartmann is free on a 10 percent of $10,000 bond. He’s scheduled to be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. July 3.
The charge of embezzlement between $50,000 and $100,000 carries a maximum penalty of 15 years, but Hartmann will avoid prison time, per the sentencing agreement with prosecutors.
Kyle Feldscher covers cops and courts for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com or you can follow him on Twitter.