By DEBRA HAIGHT

NILES — David Marshall, forensic auditor and fraud investigator, was on the stand all day in Berrien County Trial Court on Monday in the Timothy Gray felony embezzlement case.
Marshall testified that he was hired in early 2015 by Southwestern Michigan Community Ambulance Service to do a forensic audit of the service’s financial books. He said his analysis concluded that Gray received more than $100,000 in unwarranted or excessive payments during his tenure as executive director from 2009 to mid-2014.
Gray was arrested earlier this year on a charge of embezzlement of more than $50,000 and less than $100,000, a 15-year felony. He is accused of taking money from the service through excessive payments for paid time off, holiday pay, dental and vision reimbursement and short-term disability.
Assistant Prosecutor Gerald Vigansky led Marshall and jury members through a series of documents detailing Gray’s alleged wrongdoing, including charts of pay and other compensation received during each contract year as well as copies of individual checks cashed.
Gray accumulated 1,520 hours in unused vacation, personal and sick days from April 2009 to April 2010, which caused Marshall concern.
“It was almost the equivalent of a full-time year, and significantly higher than what was allowed,” he said.
Marshall gave a similar analysis to other contract years for Gray, noting that he was paid back for more unused vacation, personal and sick days than was allowed in his contract. In addition to payroll and check registers, Marshall relied on information from emails where Gray said he was sick or on vacation.
Also pointed out by Marshall were incidences when Gray received holiday bonuses he didn’t deserve, as well as excessive dental, vision and short-term disability payments. In the last instance, he said Gray received more than $25,000 in earnings he was not supposed to get when he was out on disability from November 2013 through March 2014.
Marshall’s calculations showed that Gray received $90,828.57 in excessive or unwarranted compensation from 2009 to mid-2014. In addition, SMCAS paid $5,470 in extra social security and $7,656 in extra pension contributions on that sum. Those payments together equal the more than $100,000 Marshall says Gray received as unwarranted and excessive payments.
Defense attorney Michael Conkright began his cross-examination of Marshall’s investigation at SMCAS on Monday afternoon, attempting to point out specific instances where Marshall made conclusions without having all the information.
Those instances included information about reimbursements allowed for vision-related expenses. Marshall testified during the preliminary hearing in June that Gray wasn’t entitled to reimbursements for vision expenses, only to be shown by Conkright that there was evidence that Gray did deserve to get some reimbursement.
The trial is expected to continue today with the prosecution drawing its case to a close. Conkright said he plans to call four or five witnesses for the defense.