By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A plea has been entered by a Pinckney man charged with embezzling $100,000 of scrap metal from his workplace.

39-year-old Ian Lumley was charged earlier this year with one count of embezzling more than $50,000 but less than $100,000 following an investigation by Pinckney Police of suspected thefts from a business on Hamburg Street in the Village. He was also charged separately with receiving and concealing stolen property and heroin possession.

In court on Friday, he pleaded guilty to all three counts in exchange for a sentence of 5 years of probation, with the first six months in the Livingston County Jail. Lumley was only recently taken into custody after failing to appear in court on the embezzlement charge in August. Lumley was accused of starting to steal metal within a week of his employment in November of 2019. Certain machines at the business had also stopped working due to electric wiring being removed.

Police located the various types of metal, which included copper, brass, stainless steel and aluminum at various scrap dealers in Washtenaw and Wayne counties. Witnesses reported seeing Lumley fill boxes with metal, although no one was sure what he was doing with them. Detective Ryan Hamlin said he was able to obtain a confession from Lumley, who allegedly blamed a lack of surveillance equipment for making it easy to steal the metal.

Lumley, who could have faced up to 15 years in prison, will be sentenced on January 13th. If Judge Michael Hatty decides not to abide by the plea agreement, Lumley will be able to withdraw his plea. He will also be liable for restitution.