Former City Of Detroit Employee Sentenced To Prison For Embezzling $265,000 From The City

A former City of Detroit employee, Masharn Franklin, 53, of Detroit, was sentenced to 18 months in prison, followed by 3 years supervised release, and ordered to pay $265,573 in restitution to the city of Detroit based on her conviction for embezzlement, United States Attorney Matthew Schneider announced today. 

Franklin was employed by the City of Detroit in its audit and payroll department in 2016 and 2017.  During that time, Franklin was responsible for overseeing the execution of garnishment orders for the salaries of Detroit city employees.  While so employed, Franklin concocted a scheme to embezzle hundreds of thousands of dollars from the city by causing money to be “garnished” from city funds in the names of Franklin’s relatives.  Once the city had issued checks in the names of Franklin’s relatives in the amounts dictated by Franklin, Franklin then deposited the checks into bank accounts held jointly by her and her relatives.  As a result of her embezzlement scheme, Franklin stole approximately $265,573 from the City of Detroit.  The FBI has already seized $58,000 in criminal proceeds from Franklin’s bank accounts.        

Besides being sentenced to prison, the Court ordered Franklin to pay restitution to the City of Detroit for the additional $207,000 that she has yet to repay. 

Schneider was joined in the announcement by Timothy Slater, Special Agent In Charge of the Detroit Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

United States Attorney Schneider said, “Detroit employees who embezzle money from the city steal from all citizens of the city, depriving them of needed public services and projects.  The Court’s sentence today vindicates the rule of law and demonstrates that such conduct will not be tolerated as the city continues its comeback.”        

“Make no mistake, city employees who exploit their positions of trust in order to enrich themselves at the expense of the taxpayers will be held accountable”, said Timothy R. Slater, Special Agent in Charge, Detroit FBI.  

The investigation of this case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney David A. Gardey.