GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) - A former advertising executive with Meijer who stole more than $78,000 in gift cards was sentenced today to probation and community service.
"I was stupid,'' Danny Kraig Vandermyde told Kent County Circuit Judge Donald A. Johnston during a sentencing hearing Tuesday. He admitted to pilfering Meijer gift cards over a six-year period.
Johnston placed Vandermyde on probation for three years ordered him to perform 200 hours of community service.
The bigger hit is in his pocketbook. The 63-year-old Norton Shores resident will have to pay the corporate giant $78,710 in restitution.
Vandermyde had been charged with embezzlement of up to $100,000, a felony punishable by 15 years in prison. As part of a plea agreement with the Kent County Prosecutor's Office, he was allowed to plead guilty to a reduced charge that carries a maximum term of five years in prison.
He pleaded guilty in March to taking the gift cards that were supposed to be used for company promotions.
A co-worker, 45-year-old Tracy Christen Gordon, was charged with taking between $20,000 and $50,000 in gift cards. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge and was sentenced May 11 to four months in the Kent County Jail.
Corporate officials discovered the thefts in October. Vandermyde is a former WZZM morning anchor and photographer who left the station in 1979.
