Plea entered in $35,800 Wyoming band booster embezzlement

WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) — A woman with a history of financial crimes has pleaded guilty to embezzling funds from the Wyoming High School Band’s booster club.

Crystal Gail Mulero, 41, entered a plea earlier this week in Kent County Circuit Court to embezzling funds while serving as the organization’s president.

In exchange for her plea, a habitual offender charge will be dismissed, court officials said. The charge of embezzlement — $20,000 or more, but less than $50,000 — is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Mulero is free on bond.  She returns to court for sentencing in February.

Her most recent felony charge comes a year after she was discharged from state supervision for a 2020 attempted embezzlement conviction.

Wyoming band booster president accused of embezzlement

In that case, she and two co-workers at Five Below in Grandville were caught filling up shopping carts with merchandize and walking out without paying, according to court records. Mulero admitted that she stole more than $11,000 worth of merchandize from the store, court records show.

She was placed on probation and discharged in April 2022. Mulero was given access to Wyoming band booster funds while she was still on probation, court record show.

Mulero was president of the Wyoming Band Boosters and had access to its funds since approximately June 2021, court records show.

“Defendant used approximately $35,800 of the band booster funds for her own personal use,’’ a Wyoming police officer wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

The parent-led band boosters club functions as a nonprofit and is separate from Wyoming Public Schools.

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