A woman from Grand Rapids, Michigan was sentenced recently for taking money from an employer. However, her initial crime is not as bad as the defense mechanism that she used to lessen her sentence. The woman who will go by the initials of L.K. wanted to prove her innocence, so she forged a letter of recommendation from her boss and presented it to the court. The woman was forced to plead guilty to obstruction of justice last Thursday after her ploy was discovered.

She will be sentenced on September 27, 2012 for her crime. She is currently beginning her 27-month-sentence for the embezzlement charge, which she will serve at the Bureau of Federal Prisons. L.K.'s original crime includes taking approximately $122,000 from her employer for her own personal gain. She formerly worked at the Anderson Economic Group LLC before she was discovered, and held significant influence in the company as the human resources director.

L.K.'s forgery charges were an attempt at proving her own value and innocence in the company so that she could keep her job. She wrote a long letter of recommendation and presented it to the judge, which described her as "irreplaceable" and responsible for organizing important events. The letters are intended to show a judge the positive characteristics of a person being sentenced and possible lessen the charges or punishments involved with a crime. However, the U.S. Attorney on the case was able to detect that the letter was forged. The crime was partially revealed because L.K. had written the letter on a letterhead of the City Limits Bowling Center Sports Grill, rather than writing it on a company letterhead.

Court records say that L.K. has also taken money from two other employers in the past. If you have been charged with a white collar crime like embezzlement, then you will want a shrewd criminal lawyer to help on your case. You should never attempt to lie to the courts in a case or forge documents, such as L.K. did in this situation, or you will heap punishments on yourself, rather than lessening them. A criminal defense lawyer from Michigan can aid you so that you don't end up making a mistake like this one. Contact someone at The Law Offices of Freedman & Freedman today!