GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WZZM) – An Ada woman who spent years waging an expensive legal battle to get custody of her murdered daughter's son has been convicted of embezzlement.
Tamara Sue Keenan, 54, was sentenced in Kent County Circuit Court this week to five years' probation and ordered to perform 160 hours of community service.
It is an unfortunate turn of events for a caring, generous woman who had to deal with the 2004 murder of her daughter, Julia Dawson, and a subsequent fight to gain custody of Dawson's son, who was taken to Texas after the murder, Keenan's lawyer said.
"They had a lot of legal bills; I think that was part of it,'' attorney Michael L. DeYoung said Friday. "She is sorry for what she did and is working now to pay restitution.''
Keenan pleaded guilty in April to embezzlement of between $20,000 and $50,000, which carries a maximum prison term of 10 years.
Judge Paul Sullivan ordered her to pay more than $89,000 in restitution to Keeling Wood Products, where she worked for 11 years until the company folded in 2014.
A year after she started work, her daughter was murdered. Prosecutors eventually charged Julia Dawson's husband, Timothy Dawson, with felony murder.
He was found guilty of strangling his 23-year-old wife in the kitchen of their Sparta home in Dec. 2004 and dumping her body near U.S. 131 in southern Montcalm County. A passerby found Dawson's naked body on Jan. 3, 2005.
Six months after his wife's body was found, Timothy Dawson moved to Texas with his then four-year-old son Alexander. He remarried and had a second child before he was arrested in Texas in January, 2008 and returned to Michigan to face trial for murder.
A Kent County jury convicted him of first degree murder and he was sentenced in December, 2008 to life in prison without possibility of parole. Now 38, Dawson is being held at Lakeland Correctional Facility in Coldwater.
After the conviction, Kevin and Tamara Keenan fought a custody battle with Dawson's new wife over custody of the boy. A judge granted the Keenans temporary custody. They eventually adopted the boy and are his legal guardians.
Tamara Keenan worked for the door manufacturer from 2003 until the company closed in 2014. Keenan's work responsibilities escalated after her daughter's murder – "in effect, the running of the company fell to her,'' her attorney wrote in a sentencing memorandum to Sullivan.
Despite dissatisfaction on the job, Keenan continued working "because she needed the money to help pay off her large legal bills and help provide for her family,'' DeYoung wrote, noting that her boss once withheld payment for 41 straight weeks.
"In committing this offense, Mrs. Keenan obviously used very poor judgment and has taken responsibility for her decisions,'' DeYoung added.
Kevin Keenan also wrote the judge on behalf of his wife, saying she has persevered despite a life of hardship. "It is amazing the way she can give after all she has been through,'' Kevin Keenan wrote. "She truly is an asset to the community.''
He asked that Tamara be spared time in jail "because jail would be punishing more people than her.''
Judge Sullivan agreed, giving Keenan a suspended sentence of 180 days. Under terms of the sentence, Sullivan still has the option of jailing Keenan if she violates terms of probation.
