A woman was sentenced Thursday to a year in prison and ordered to pay back the more than $210,000 she stole from the Albert Lea, Minn., public housing authority.
Prison term, restitution for woman who embezzled from Albert Lea public housing authority
The former employee "prioritized her own financial needs at the expense of a vulnerable population she was entrusted to serve," the prosecution argued.
August 10, 2023 at 8:43PM
Marcie M. Thumann, 45, of Albert Lea, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis after pleading guilty to theft from a government program that receives federal funding for stealing from her city's Housing and Redevelopment Authority (HRA), where she worked.
After she has served her prison time of one year and one day, Thumann will be on supervised release for three years and must make full restitution to the housing authority of $213,217.
Thumann stole the money "for her own use" from the HRA, which receives funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to court records. The thefts occurred from January 2010 through "at least" mid-July 2018, the records disclosed.
Ahead of sentencing, defense attorney Christina Zauhar argued in a court filing that Thumann should be spared prison and instead serve six months of home confinement.
Zauhar pointed out the many difficulties her client endured through much of her life: childhood abuse, breaking her neck in a car crash, her husband's death in 2006 in a motorcycle crash and her home lost to a fire in 2008.
The attorney added that Thumann started stealing from the HRA in order to keep a promise to her late husband to buy their teenage son a car. From there, Zauhar continued, Thumann kept stealing to stay ahead of her bills.
Prosecutors countered in their own filing for Thumann to receive a prison term of 1¼ years.
"Thumann prioritized her own financial needs at the expense of a vulnerable population she was entrusted to serve," the prosecution argued. "The HRA was created — and funded — to help stem the growing scarcity of affordable housing. Thumann's theft from this program not only stole the public funds earmarked for this endeavor, but it undercut the very mission of the program itself."
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