Kevin Grasha

kgrasha@lsj.com

LANSING -- An attorney who admitted stealing thousands from an East Lansing elementary school's parent-teacher group withdrew his guilty plea Wednesday after a judge imposed a jail term, which nullified the plea agreement.

At a sentence hearing in Ingham County Circuit Court, Judge Rosemarie Aquilina heard from two members of Pinecrest Elementary School's parent-teacher council, who said they had been betrayed by Robert Clayton Miller, the group's onetime treasurer.

"To steal money from a school that already has so little, it is heartless and selfish," Kimberly Henderson, a member of the Pinecrest group, told Aquilina.

The embezzlement happened between June 2012 and June 2013 while Miller was serving as treasurer. In 2013, police discovered that nearly $7,800 was missing from the parent-teacher council. About $6,500 was recovered and returned to the organization.

Henderson said that Miller ultimately had stolen from children who donated money from their "piggy banks" and their allowances.

"I think you need the impact of some jail," Aquilina told Miller. "I think you have negatively impacted the children...and the community.

"Sir, you need a negative impact."

She then sentenced Miller to serve 14 days in jail, in addition to two years of probation.

Miller, who according to his attorneys has been on leave from his state job, pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor embezzlement charge. As part of that plea, there was an agreement between Miller and prosecutors that he not serve any jail time.

After Aquilina imposed the jail term during Wednesday's hearing, Miller's attorney, Mike Nichols, said he was withdrawing his guilty plea.

The case now is expected to go to trial. No date has been set.

In an interview, Nichols said that if Miller was convicted by a jury, Aquilina most likely would not be able to sentence him to more than 14 days in jail. Under case law, he said, Aquilina can't impose a longer jail term just because a defendant chooses to go to trial.

"What could the judge hear at trial that would be any worse than what she heard (today) from" the parent-teacher group members, he said.

Miller, who lives in Holt, also is facing possible felony charges as a repeat drunken driver. He was arrested for drunken driving "several days after his plea," Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Jonathan Roth said in court. Miller has three previous drunken driving convictions, Roth said.

At his plea hearing last month, Miller said he had turned over his treasurer duties to his wife, Kimberly. He said he knew she used the money for a mortgage payment on their East Lansing home. His wife and children now live in Texas. Miller, as a condition of his bond, cannot leave the state.

In 2013, Kimberly Miller pleaded no contest in 54B District Court to a larceny charge, records show. She was placed on probation and ordered to pay more than $2,800 in fines and costs.