GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A former nonprofit leader accused of stealing more than $1 million from an organization that served low-income children and their families has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges, court records show.
Nkechy Ezeh, the founder and former CEO of the Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, has agreed to plead guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and tax evasion. Under the plea deal, Ezeh now must pay an estimated $1.4 million in restitution and nearly $400,000 in back taxes to the IRS.
Grand Rapids nonprofit closes, citing ‘brazen’ embezzlement
ELNC, which has since shut down, worked to prepare at-risk preschoolers for kindergarten in Kent County, Kalamazoo and Battle Creek. For more than a decade, ELNC supported more nearly 8,000 children and their families, court documents show.
Ezeh conspired with the ELNC’s bookkeeper, Sharon Kay Killebrew, to embezzle more than $1 million from the nonprofit — nearly bankrupting the organization and forcing it to close and stop serving at-risk preschoolers. Ezeh instructed Killebrew to create nearly $500,000 worth of fraudulent invoices which she then used her position at the CEO to approve…