South Lyon Woman Pleads No Contest In Country Market Embezzlement Case

A 47-year-old South Lyon woman pleaded no contest to one count of embezzlement Thursday, a day before her trial was to begin.

Angela McKenzie, the former manager of Country Market in Saline, is in lottery revenue between 2008 and 2010. As part of the plea, she’ll receive no up front jail time and pay $40,000 in restitution to Country Market.

She will be sentenced at Aug. 22.

Detective Don Lupi said he was pleased to see the case resolved.

“We put a lot of hours into this case and to see that work pay off is satisfying,” Lupi said.

In the pretrial hearing, witnesses testified that McKenzie, a trusted employee who transferred from a different store within the chain, would empty the machine and use her register to add the cash to the store's daily earnings. On several occasions, however, she would use the same register to ring up a grocery return for the exact amount and the cash was never recovered, they said.