Candice Williams

The Detroit News

A former Veterans Affairs supervisor was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison after he was convicted of stealing federal funds, which he used to pay for lap dances, sex and gambling, said U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade.

During Glenn Alan Bates’ time as chief of the Veterans Canteen Service at the VA Medical Center in Ann Arbor, McQuade’s office said Bates embezzled $314,400 in cash and property belonging to the VA from 2007 to early 2013, when his employment with the VA ended.

As the former chief of the Veterans Canteen Service, Bates oversaw the VCS Patriot Store, cafeteria food services and vending sales.

“He stole the cash receipts of sales of commemorative military hats to veterans and others by volunteers at the VAMC,” McQuade’s office said. “And he stole the cash receipts of several vending machines there. Bates deprived the VA’s Veterans Canteen Service of needed revenue and used it instead to patronize a strip club in Columbus, Ohio, where he paid for lap dances and sex. He also used the stolen funds to gamble at casinos.”

The Office of Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs investigated the case.

Bates, 58, of Saline pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Avern Cohn in December 2015. He told investigators that he stole about $150,000, according to court records.

Court-appointed defense lawyer, Stacey Studnicki, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.

In addition to his prison sentence, Bates was ordered to two years of supervised release and to pay $314,400 in restitution to the VA.

Bates was hired to manage the VA canteen despite having a criminal record. He served 18 months in federal prison in the late 1970s for allegedly stealing a car, according to the U.S. Pretrial Services Agency. In 1992, he was sentenced to probation for a felony arson conviction.

cwilliams@detroitnews.com

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