Suzanne Page Wangler, 42, a TV news anchor from television station WLAJ in Lancing, Michigan was arrested earlier this week and charged with bilking her boyfriend, Les Pingilley out of $149,000. She had previously worked at WDIV-TV in Detroit.
She was arraigned on felony charges of embezzlement and larceny, according to Edward Cibor of the Oakland County prosecutor’s office. Wangler denies all charges, according to her lawyer Carl Marlinga.
Authorities say that Pingilley hired Wangler to be his financial advisor and handed over money that he received in a divorce settlement. She was able to talk him into giving her $52,000 to make up for a lessor sum that she lost in commissions when he cashed in an annuity. Wangler told him that she needed the money to avoid foreclosure of her home. Pingilley’s daughter was also living at the home, serving as a live in nanny for Wangler’s children.
Bond was set at $25,000. If convicted on the two charges, Wangler could serve a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison. According to the Associated Press, Suzanne Page resigned from WLAJ last week.
Wangler, divorced from former Univ. of Michigan quarterback John Wangler, she was already on probation for a drunken driving conviction from last summer, which included a charge of child endangerment. In November 2005 she was convicted of shoplifting $600 in food and merchandise.
BREAKING NEWS: Suzanne Page Wangler was found dead in her home late this afternoon.