Late last week, 46-year-old Jaime Westenbarger, who worked as a registered investment advisor for Forest Hills Financial, Inc. in Ada, Michigan, was sentenced for embezzling $260,000 from his clients.
Westenbarger pled guilty as charged in January under a delayed sentence to One Count of Conducting a Criminal Enterprise, three counts of embezzlement, and three counts of Using a Computer to Commit a Crime.
Because Westenbarger paid $160,000 in restitution to his victims before the end of his delayed sentence, the State agreed he could be sentenced to 30 months concurrently on two of the embezzlement charges, with the remaining charges dismissed. Westenbarger also agreed that other victims of uncharged offenses listed in the plea agreement have a right to seek restitution from him for any financial loss they may have suffered.
Westenbarger embezzled his victims’ money after telling them he would invest it for them, but instead stole the money for himself using a computer for online fund transfers.
