By Jon King / jking@whmi.com


A Pinckney man has been sentenced on various charges including stealing $100,000 worth of scrap metal from his workplace.

39-year-old Ian Lumley was charged last year with one count of embezzling between $50,000 and $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.

Lumley pleaded guilty to all three counts last month in exchange for a sentencing recommendation of 5 years of probation, with the first six months in the Livingston County Jail. That’s exactly the sentence that Judge Michael Hatty handed down on Thursday. He had faced a possible sentence of up to 15 years in prison.

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 is also liable for restitution totaling more than $87,000.