Okemos woman embezzled $150K from local medical office, police say

Police in Meridian Township, Michigan, say longtime medical office manager Sue Brownlee Jones used her position at Total Family Health Care Plus to steal more than $150,000 from the practice over several years. As the person responsible for overseeing day‑to‑day finances, she had access to checks, billing records, and the practice’s accounting system. Investigators allege she wrote unauthorized checks to herself and manipulated bookkeeping entries so the missing funds would appear as legitimate expenses, all while presenting herself as a trusted, indispensable employee to the physicians.

The scheme began to unravel when the practice’s owners noticed inconsistencies in their financial records and cash flow that did not match patient volume. A deeper review, followed by a formal investigation, revealed a pattern of checks and payments that had been diverted for Jones’s personal use. She was charged with multiple counts of embezzlement, and the case highlighted both the financial and emotional toll such theft can take on small medical practices. For doctors and practice owners, her case underscores the importance of separating financial duties, regularly reviewing bank statements and accounting records, and ensuring that even long‑tenured managers are subject to oversight and periodic audits.