Man gets jail in theft from fundraiser for fallen officer

The former president of a motorcycle club who was accused of stealing money from a fundraiser for a Kalamazoo police officer who was killed while on duty in 2011 has been sentenced to five months in jail.

Fifty-five-year-old Joseph Weeks Sr. of Kalamazoo County’s Comstock Township earlier pleaded no contest to embezzlement from a nonprofit.

A no contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing. Weeks is the former president of the Sons of Malta club.

Weeks’ attorney William Weiler at Monday’s sentencing attributed his client’s troubles to “sloppy bookkeeping.”

The Kalamazoo Gazette reports a restitution hearing is May 18.

Eric Zapata was fatally shot in while responding to gunshots in a Kalamazoo neighborhood. The EZ Memorial Ride was held in Zapata’s honor.  (AP)