Local woman being called ‘Robin Hood banker’

Reports are circulating worldwide of a prison sentence handed down Tuesday, Oct. 6, to Clinton resident Patricia Keezer, 53, former manager of Citizens Bank in Manchester.

Keezer, who is the wife of Clinton Township Fire Chief Dennis Keezer, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison for embezzling $340,000 over an eight-year period. She admitted in U.S. District Court to having stolen money from the banks starting in 2000 in order to help needy people. Along with giving as much as $2,000 at a time to help people with auto repairs, she reversed bounced-check charges and fees. In addition, previous reports stated that she covered up the embezzlement by preparing false records and by topping stacks of $1 bills with $100 to disguise the value of the bank’s holdings.

Keezer went before U.S. District Court Judge Marianne Battani in the Eastern District of Michigan in Detroit. Battani called her a “modern day Robin Hood” and told her Robin Hood days had come to an end.