Copyright M Live Michigan
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – The former bookkeeper at a non-profit agency that helped preschool children was sentenced to four years, six months in federal prison for conspiring to embezzle $1,170,935. Sharon Killebrew, 70, former director of finance at the now-closed Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, or ELNC, was sentenced Tuesday, Nov. 4, by U.S. District Judge Hala Jarbou in Lansing. The agency closed in 2023. Killebrew pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to defraud a federally funded program and tax evasion. The judge ordered concurrent 54-month sentences. The judge ordered Killebrew to pay $1,170,935 in restitution to fraud victims and $292,471 to the IRS. Jarbou said Killebrew abused others’ trust and hurt young, vulnerable children. The ELNC Board of Directors said the prison sentence brought justice. “However, our hearts remain heavy that we even had to get to this point,” it said in a statement. “The devastating consequences of Sharon’s selfish actions have been immense: countless families in West Michigan lost access to our vital programs, 35 people lost their jobs and many of our funding partners lost significant investments they made to improve our community. Our organization used to fill a critical gap in early childhood education, giving children and families in underserved communities a much-needed headstart on education,” the board said. Killebrew pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit an offense and tax evasion, both potential five-year felonies. ELNC funded and supported agencies that provide early learning for disadvantaged children. The plea agreement calls for Killebrew to cooperate with federal prosecutors against an unnamed co-conspirator. ELNC had sued agency founder and CEO Nkechy Ekere Ezeh, as well as Killebrew, in Kent County Circuit Court after discovering that hundreds of thousands of dollars were missing. Ezeh has not been charged criminally. The lawsuit has been dismissed but could be restarted. Amy DeLeeuw, president and treasurer of ELNC, read a lengthy statement in court on behalf of the volunteer board and herself. She said that ELNC provided vital help for children in underserved communities in Kent and Kalamazoo counties and Battle Creek. With a $15 million budget, it provided early childhood education for primarily minority children over the course of 12 years. ELNC was forced to close on Sept. 20, 2023, after the board learned that millions of dollars were missing, she said. “Classes either ceased operations or struggled to obtain funding elsewhere,” DeLeeuw said. “Programs that ELNC had already committed to finance and oversee had to scramble to find new partners or work to develop independently. The damage was swift and, for some programs, fatal.” About 35 workers immediately lost jobs. Most of the 9-member board quit, leaving DeLeeuw and two other board members - Cynthia Droog and Jonathan James – “to wade through the mess.” Killebrew was a trusted executive when she created and paid fraudulent invoices to herself and others and provided inaccurate financial statements and budgets, DeLeeuw said. “I realize now that the vast majority of Sharon’s time and effort was not spent on activities related to the betterment of ELNC and the children they served, but instead went into hiding the theft. Instead of training and mentoring accounting staff, Sharon focused on hiring under qualified staff and assigning them menial tasks so that no one would question, or, even worse, potentially confront and reveal the theft,” DeLeeuw said. “I cannot stress enough your honor, that the ONE person with the complete and total ability to stop this fraud was Sharon herself. In fact, these crimes could not have been committed without Sharon. Sharon is the person who fabricated invoices providing financial kickbacks to herself and others. Sharon is the person who fabricated financial statements in order to convince the board that all was well. Sharon was the person who allowed unauthorized credit card charges, travel expenditures for trips not taken and other expenses to be paid out to her co-conspirator and others.” She said that the fraud would have continued if not for an internal whistleblower. Defense attorney Mark Dodge said his client admitted responsibility for her role but that Ezeh, who founded the agency, “was a much more culpable actor. Dr. Ezeh was the boss and everyone reported ultimately to her. Dr. Ezeh received the lion’s share of the money which was fraudulently diverted or diverted to pay large expenses that Dr. Ezeh incurred.” Killebrew’s family and friends submitted letters of support. They were convinced her remorse was genuine. She was considered “a very giving person who always puts the interests of others ahead of her own” and had helped others her entire life,” Dodge said. “The letters as a whole depict the defendant as a good person whose decisions in the instant case did not reflect a lifetime of good works,” Dodge said. Assistant U.S. Attorney Clay Stiffler said in a sentencing memorandum that ELNC and donors were direct victims but those most harmed were young children under the age of 5 “in some of the poorest neighborhoods in Kent County, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek.” He said Killebrew and co-conspirator “left almost no stone unturned in their question to siphon money from ELNC and its donors; with Killebrew’s knowledge, Killebrew’s co-conspirator engaged in widespread credit card abuse, submitted payment requests for trips that were never taken, and double-dipped on travel reimbursements, mileage and other expense.” Killebrew earned over $100,000 annually as a contractor but did not pay taxes from 2014 to 2022. ELNC did not operate as a preschool but provided funding and services to other agencies. In its last year, it helped 400 children and their families – and 8,000 children since forming in 2010.
