OWOSSO, Mich. — The home of the "Polar Express" Christmastime train rides here in Mid-Michigan is the victim of a $200,000 embezzlement scheme.
And police are looking for the woman who stole the money.
Mary Lombardo is the former finance director for the Steam Railroading Institute in Owosso. Investigators say she used the money to buy gas, groceries, and other personal items for her and family dating back to 2016. The company says the embezzlement started when Lombardo stepped up to help a sick coworker.
"I trusted my coworkers with extra duties. I trusted my finance director with some extra responsibility and basically, it was that situation that was taken advantage of," SRI Executive Director Kimberly Springsdorf said.
Some of Springsdorf's responsibilities were divided up after she was diagnosed with an illness a little more than a year ago. After she got back, company leaders started noticing things just weren't adding up and ordered an audit. The results pointed at Mary Lombardo and the information was turned over to Owosso Police.
"It was very overwhelming. It was heartbreaking."
Lombardo worked at the museum for about seven years. The institute says that the situation is still pretty hard to believe, but they know they will bounce back from it.
"It's very much a learning curve for us. I think our customers are going to continue to support us and enjoy our fantastic Christmas memories we make along with the stuff we do through the summer," Springsdorf said.
The staff says the museum is still financially stable despite the loss of $200,000. Springsdorf sais the Polar Express rides will stay on track for a long time to come.
"We're not going to let anybody take that Christmas magic away. And we're not going to let anybody mess up what we've worked so very hard for," she said.
The museum has new practices in place to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. No one else in the organization is being investigated.
Police recently checked Lombardo's home. They say it looks like she moved out. Call Owosso Police at (989) 725-0580 if you have any information on where she is.
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