KALAMAZOO, MI (WTVB) – The former Executive Director of the Calhoun Conservation District has been ordered to serve 37 months in a federal prison.
57-year-old Tracy Lynn Bronson of Marshall was indicted by a federal grand jury on five counts of theft concerning programs receiving federal funds after taking more than a half million dollars between 2014 and 2017 from the organization’s credit union account.
The Battle Creek Enquirer reports she entered a guilty plea to one count in April.
As part of her sentence that was handed down in a federal district court on Monday, Bronson will also be placed on three years of supervised release. She must pay over $573,000 back to the conservation district and its insurance company. Bronson was facing up to 50 years in federal prison if she was convicted on all five counts.
The Enquirer reports that according to defense attorney J. Thomas Schaeffer, Bronson has a gambling addiction and used the stolen money to gamble at Firekeepers Casino.
Conservation District Chair Gregory Fountain fears the money will never be repaid and that the district’s reputation is now zilch.
