Health club controller gets 4 years in fed prison for fraud

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CHICAGO — A judge sentenced a former health club controller to four years in federal prison for embezzling more than $4 million from the facility.

U.S. District Judge Ronald Guzman sentenced 58-year-old Peter Craig Savely on Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reported.

Savely pleaded guilty in October to one count of bank fraud. He acknowledged in a plea agreement that he stole $4.1 million from the East Bank Club over a seven-year period beginning in 2013. He would write payroll checks for four employees, forge the workers' signatures to endorse the checks and deposit the money into bank accounts that he controlled, according to the plea agreement.

Prosecutors told the judge that Savely engaged in the fraud despite earning a six-figure salary. Guzman said Savely's actions were a “blatant betrayal” of his employer's trust.

“I can only conclude that the motive was greed," the judge said.

Savely’s attorney, Andrew Porter, asked that his client get 2.5 years because he’s unemployed and deep in debt. Savely apologized to relatives and friends in court before the sentence was handed down and he put his hands to his heart.

“I am not that person,” he said to the judge. “I don't want to be that person.”

Guzman told him that if he doesn't want to be “that person” he can start by behaving in prison.

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