Woman Guilty of Embezzling from Metro Parent Ordered to Pay $38K in Restitution

Tracy Connelly, 37,  to a felony charge of embezzling less than $20,000 from .

On Nov. 7, she was sentenced to three years' probation and was ordered to pay $38,000 in restitution: $15,547 to Metro Parent, $17,055 to Hartford Casualty and $5,433 to Hanover Insurance Co.

Connelly, who worked as the office manager of Metro Parent, . "The business owner told police she discovered the suspect had been embezzling from her company for the past three years," Lt. Detective William Wilson told Ferndale Patch in July.

In court documents, Connelly stated: "I, over the course of approximately three years, took items that had been given to Metro Parent as samples for review and sold them for profit. I also purchased excess office supplies for personal use, took gift cards that did not belong to me and took personal computers home for personal use, one of which I traded for an iPod Touch."

Though Connelly stated that these items totaled approximately $7,000 in value, Metro Parent Publisher Alyssa Martina maintains that the amount exceeded $20,000.

Along with probation and $38,000 in restitution payments, Connelly needs to submit to drug testing; may not use, purchase or possess any alcoholic beverage or enter establishments that dispense them; cannot contact Metro Parent or its employees; and may not possess or use a firearm.