NILES — A Holland woman who used fraudulent methods to steal thousands of dollars from members of the United Federal Credit Union in Niles will serve jail time for the crime.

Glinisha Shanae Brown, 33, of the 800 block of Lincoln in Holland, was charged with attempted fraudulent use of a financial transaction device between $1,000 to $20,000. She pleaded guilty to the charge Jan. 31.

Brown was sentenced Monday by Judge Charles LaSata to serve 180 days in the Berrien County Jail and five years of probation. She was also ordered to pay $27,608.25 in restitution.

The charge stems from Brown’s use of fraudulent methods to steal money from the United Federal Credit Union’s members. She committed the theft through the use of fraudulent checks and by using bank members’ debit cards and pin numbers to withdraw funds for purchases in Michigan and Indiana, according to court documents. Brown deposited a total of six checks totaling $15,615 in May, when the theft first occurred. Brown continued these actions for three months, according to LaSata.

Brown’s defense attorney said his client deserved a shot outside of jail working and caring for her family. He said Brown was waiting to hear about a job opportunity. He also said this was his client’s first felony conviction and encouraged the judge to keep this in mind.

Brown told LaSata she was deeply sorry for committing the crime.

“I made a terrible decision,” Brown said. “I want to apologize to everyone that is involved who lost out or worked hard for their money. I’m just asking for an opportunity to correct this.”

When asked why she took the money in the first place, Brown said she used the money for transportation, because she did not have a car. She said she also gave some of the funds to a person she was “involved” with at the time. The remainder was used on miscellaneous things, she said. 

But LaSata said Brown had no one to blame but herself for the crimes. He said Brown has been committing crimes for years and cited her 15 other convictions as an example.

He said for this crime, he wanted Brown to serve a month locked up for each of the six victims she had harmed. 

“You are a ‘flim flam person,’ that is a term one of my colleague’s favorite expressions,” LaSata said. “You steal from people. You abuse people and then you expect everybody to take care of Glinisha.”

LaSata cautioned Brown to change her ways or that prison could be in her future.

“You better straighten your act out,” LaSata said. “This is your 15th criminal conviction. There better not be a 16th in our county.”

Brown has credit for 45 days served.