Trustee sentenced in Benzie County embezzlement case

May 18—BEULAH — A trustee will serve jail time after a judge both agreed to accept final details of a plea agreement allowing a lesser charge from a felony to a misdemeanor and levied the 90-day sentence.

"You were placed in a position of trust," 19th Circuit Court Judge David Thompson said during a sentencing hearing Tuesday for Robert Ellis, who was accused of using funds from the H. Louis Markword Trust for personal benefit.

The case has been followed by Record-Eagle reporters as part of a special series on guardianship, conservatorship and laws governing fiduciaries who serve vulnerable adults.

In June, Ellis pleaded no contest to one felony count of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult of more than $1,000 but less than $20,000.

A plea agreement negotiated last year with the Benzie County Prosecutor's office included the opportunity for delayed sentencing, allowing Ellis a year to pay more than $22,000 in restitution and then petition the court to withdraw his felony plea and plead to a single misdemeanor embezzlement charge.

Louis and Beverly Markword in 2018 chose Ellis, a family associate, as trustee of their estate, after Louis suffered a stroke and was hospitalized.

Louis Markword later died, and records show Ellis made a number of financial actions that Beverly Markword and the couple's adult son, Jim Markword, found suspicious, leading them to contact law enforcement.

Those actions included repeated ATM withdrawals from Beverly Markword's checking account, Jim Markword said, and dodging his mother's questions about how much money she had in her accounts.

Jim Markword told the judge his mother lives in an assisted living home and the stress of not knowing what was happening with her finances has exacerbated her failing health.

"This took a toll on her," Jim Markword said, adding he supported a jail sentence for Ellis and that he believed an assistant prosecutor who handled a previous restitution hearing was unprepared.

"I am asking the court to at least give us some justice," Jim Markword said.

Ellis, who lives near Chicago, declined to address the court, deferring comment to his attorney, Frederik Stig-Nielsen.

Stig-Nielsen asked the judge for no jail time for his client and said Ellis had paid court-ordered restitution in full and fulfilled the conditions of the delayed sentence portion of the plea agreement.

Ellis was trying to put the past behind him, Stig-Nielsen said, had cooperated with Illinois probation officers and was in the midst of re-starting efforts to train search and rescue dogs.

"He's trying to move forward, your honor," Stig-Nielsen said. "I recognize that there are two sides to this story, and that others are angry."

A felony warrant dated May 14, 2019 shows Ellis was initially charged with three felonies — two counts of embezzlement from a vulnerable adult of between $20,000 and $50,000 and one count of using a computer to commit a crime.

Judge Thompson read aloud from a pre-sentence report which stated Ellis intended to take immediate possession of the Markwords' assets even before Louis Markword died and he then showed a concerted effort to conceal what he was using the money for.

Thompson said he did not think probation was sufficient punishment or that Ellis should be able to pay his way out of what transpired during his management of the Markword Trust.

Thompson then voiced similar concerns as those raised by Jim Markword, regarding the way in which "the state" — in this case a former assistant prosecutor — presented evidence.

"The court was concerned with the manner in which the evidence the state presented in the restitution hearing" was handled, Thompson said.

Benzie County Prosecutor Sara Swanson said a public rebuke from a judge directed at the prosecutor's office was unusual and that the assistant prosecutor who handled the restitution hearing had since left the office by mutual decision.

Jim Markword said he thought Swanson handled Tuesday's hearing in a professional manner but he still had a degree of disappointment in the outcome.

"I am still let down that he didn't have to pay back more money and that he didn't get more jail time," Jim Markword said, following the hearing. "The biggest thing now is to make a decision about the civil case."

In 2019 Benzie County Probate Court Judge John Mead stayed all pending matters regarding the H. Louis Markword Trust.

At issue is whether trust funds can be used to pay approximately $34,000 in legal fees Ellis incurred in civil court, records show.