No mercy — LaJoice gets 11 years

 Judge Gershwin A. Drain gave the ruling on Thursday, March 23, in the U.S. District Court. LaJoice appeared in court in chains.

 “If I just slapped you on the wrist and gave you a light sentence people would think, ‘I can steal a lot of money, pay some of it back, and serve a short sentence.’ The sentence should deter other people from committing like crimes,” Drain said.

 “I just don’t see how I can be lenient with you. It’s just a lot of money. I can’t minimize that.”

 Before the sentencing was given, defense attorney Michael Manley and John Neal, chief of the White Collar Crime Unit, spoke as well as LaJoice himself.

 LaJoice spoke clearly and appeared to get choked up as he addressed the judge.

 “I used to think that happiness came from money and I learned I was wrong,” LaJoice said. He said he learned that happiness came from his family and God, and that admitting this was a weight off his shoulders.

 “I ask for mercy so I can return home to my family,” he said.

 Manley argued that LaJoice has paid back in restitution more than $3 million and that LaJoice’s goal from the day he turned himself in was to make things right.

 “There’s no intellectual honest way to justify anything Mr. LaJoice did ... I was given orders from Mr. LaJoice to make things right,” Manley said.

 Manley further added that LaJoice did not commit murder or rape a child or commit a violent crime. LaJoice has lost over 100 pounds since he confessed.

 “He’s a father. He’s a husband. He’s a man that made terrible mistakes,” Manley said, adding that his wife is sticking by him and his kids love him.

 Ashleigh LaJoice was in the courtroom, visibly upset. She was being comforted by a friend or family member during court proceedings.

 Neal said LaJoice committed an “exceptionally serious offense.”

 “The amount that was embezzled was staggering,” he said.

 The crimes were committed over a long period of time and were not “a lapse in judgment,” he said.

 He spoke of LaJoice’s “callous disregard for others” due to people at the credit union and Chassé losing their jobs.

 “He didn’t show any regard for the people,” he said. “Mr. LaJoice didn’t have to do this.”

 LaJoice’s sentencing matches the U.S. Attorney’s Office, which recommended 132 months, or 11, years of imprisonment, while Manley asked for 60 months, or five years.

 LaJoice will receive credit for time served. Drain also ordered LaJoice to participate in the financial responsibility program while in prison. After his release, he will be on probation.

Background on this case

 LaJoice committed bank fraud from October 2007 to December 2015.

 In federal court, LaJoice said he committed check fraud by addressing cashier checks out to himself, along with a few other methods. As chief financial officer (CFO), he was able to write large deposits, and then approve them with no oversight.

 According to U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade, to conceal the fraud, LaJoice created fictitious investments in certificates of deposit and bonds, and represented to auditors and bank examiners that the money he stole had in fact been invested in these vehicles.

 According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office recommendation statement, on Jan. 5, 2016, LaJoice was confronted by regulators at the Michigan Department of Insurance and Financial Services about discrepancies in the credit union’s books. This prompted him to turn himself in the following day.

 The Clarkston Brandon Community Credit Union became insolvent from the embezzlement and joined with the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union.

 LaJoice was ordered to pay restitution of $17,748,380.

 LaJoice’s properties, including his multi-million dollar home in Tyrone Township, were sold to help pay restitution. Skypoint Ventures executed a purchase agreement to acquire the Fenton City commercial properties last summer.

 The properties that Skypoint Ventures has purchased include 225 W. Caroline St., the now-vacant lot where LaJoice planned to construct a multi-million dollar, mixed development called “Riverview.”

 LaJoice been lodged in the Oakland County Jail since January 2016. He is expected to plead guilty in Oakland County Circuit Court March 27 on embezzlement charges.

 Manley and Neal have asked that the sentences run concurrent.