GRAND RAPDS, MI -- The former treasurer of the Grand Rapids Saladin Shriners was sentenced to a minimum 45 months in prison and ordered to pay back $1.6 million for embezzling from the charity.

Richard Ivan Williams, 49, was sentenced Wednesday, Nov. 19, in Kent County Circuit Court after earlier pleading guilty to embezzlement over $100,000.

He was accused of stealing money from a children’s trust fund.

He acknowledged taking funds from the charity. Police said he wired over $1 million in Shriners’ trust fund money into a personal business account and used funds to buy property and donate to college fraternities.

Shriners is a group involved in service, community leadership and philanthropy. Williams was treasurer of the Grand Rapids chapter.

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