Michelle Elowski

ALPENA — Alpena attorney Michelle Elowski was sentenced to 45 days in jail, beginning on Monday, for direct contempt of court for abruptly leaving a civil court proceeding in November.

Elowski was participating remotely when she said she became ill and needed to leave.

During her sentencing for contempt of court in 88th District Court on Monday, Elowski testified that she inappropriately spent at least a portion of the $270,000 she had in her control for a private trust. She did not specify how she spent the money.

Elowski’s jail time for contempt is separate from an embezzlement case in which Elowski is charged with that is also moving forward.

The Michigan State Police arrested Elowski on Feb. 1 at her office, Legal Me, on Chisholm Street in Alpena and later charged in Oscoda County with two counts of common law fraud, one count of check fraud with non-sufficient funds of $500 or more, one count of embezzlement by a trustee of $1,000 or more but less than $20,000, and one count of embezzlement by a trustee of $50,000 or more but less than $100,000.

The attorney for the Harrison Trust, who entrusted Elowski with the money, estimates there is between $250,000 and $270,000 unaccounted for.

For the duration of the hearing, Elowski danced around questions from Judge Alan Curtis who repeatedly asked her where the missing money went and if she spent it. He asked her for proof on how the money was spent previously and she provided no evidence on where the money went, but did say a portion of it was likely misspent and used to cover operational costs for her office.

Curtis also asked her if she had stolen it.

Elowski replied that she couldn’t accurately answer the question because the information she needed to show where it went was on her electronic devices that were seized by police during its investigation.

On several occasions, Elowski said she had $270,000 in cash in her office, but the business office was searched, and electronic and hard copy evidence was seized, but that amount of money was not recovered.

Curtis wasn’t buying the responses from Elowski and said he had doubts about her honesty.

“I’ll be frank,” Curtis said. “I don’t believe you and right now your credibility is very low. I believe you’ll say what you need to say to stay out of jail.”

Elowski was hired to oversee the estate of Kenneth Mausolf and $270,908 of the Trueman Harrison and Modesta Harrison Trust, according to court records.

The families last year asked for the money back. When she didn’t give the money back, the families asked the Alpena County Probate Court to intervene and, on Dec. 28, the court ordered Elowski to fork over the cash.

At a February hearing, Elowski said she was no longer in possession of it and was unable to pay it back.

So, as of Monday, it is unclear where the money is and what Elowski did with it.

Curtis gave Elowski a week before she has to turn herself in to begin her jail sentence. The reason being is that Elowski is still in the process of transferring her clients to other attorneys.

Curtis said he expects written proof that the clients’ cases have been forwarded to other representation and for her to report to the jail at 7 a.m. March 18.

If she fails to do either, she will be forced to sit 93 days.

“The only reason I’m doing this is to prevent further harm to these other individuals,” Curtis told Elowski.

If Elowski serves the time for her contempt of court, she is staring at further jail time as police continue to investigate other allegations against her.

Last month, State Police Specialist Lt. Derrick Carroll, a public information officer, said police expect to seek more charges and to identify more victims, but at the moment no further arrest warrants are out for Elowski.

Elowski was forced to surrender her driver’s license and passport and made to wear a tether due to her bond requirements from an arraignment on Feb. 2 in Oscoda County

Her next hearing for the civil case is slated for April 5, but no time was scheduled, while her next appearance for her criminal case continues on April 2 at 3 p.m. in the 81st District Court in Oscoda County.