A small chamber of commerce in St. Clair County filed a lawsuit Feb. 4, accusing Kellie Lauwers, wife of Michigan state Sen. Dan Lauwers, of stealing $32,300 by writing checks from the organization to herself.

The Yale Area Chamber of Commerce’s suit said law enforcement has been “investigating the criminal side” of the allegations. And Kimberly Vetter, public information officer for the Michigan State Police, confirmed the agency has been investigating an embezzlement case involving the Yale area business organization.

Dan Lauwers is a member of Senate Republicans’ leadership team and was recently named chairman of the caucus’s 2026 campaign efforts. His district includes a portion of northeastern Macomb County from Armada east to New Baltimore.

In an interview Feb. 4, lawyer Frank Manley acknowledged he’s been representing Kellie Lauwers in the criminal investigation. Manley said he hadn’t yet seen the new civil lawsuit.

“The investigation is ongoing, and Mrs. Lauwers is presumed innocent,” Manley said in a written statement. “She looks forward to answering any questions presented when the investigation is completed.

“Sen. Dan Lauwers, her husband, is not involved in this matter and remains strongly supportive of his wife.”

Yale is a rural farming community with about 2,000 residents in northern St. Clair County, about 65 miles north of Detroit. The local chamber of commerce has an annual budget of about $80,000 and puts on the annual Yale Bologna Festival, said Barbara Stasik, a member of the organization’s board. The festival’s website describes the event as a “three-day celebration of bologna.”

Kellie Lauwers had been the local chamber’s treasurer.

Stasik said because of the missing funds, it’s up in the air whether the festival celebrating encased meat will occur again this summer.

“It wasn’t our money,” Stasik said. “It was the community’s.”

In November, the Yale Area Chamber of Commerce uncovered “discrepancies” in its financial statements and eventually determined Kellie Lauwers “had been writing herself checks in large amounts out of the chamber’s bank accounts,” according to the new lawsuit.

The suit, which was filed by lawyer David R. Russell in St. Clair County Circuit Court, accused Kellie Lauwers of forging names on the checks to get around the organization’s two-signature requirement for expenditures. The suit also contended that Kellie Lauwers improperly used the group’s debit card “for her own personal expenditures, including use at Dollar General.”

Chamber officials confronted Kellie Lauwers about the situation on Nov. 25 and she “admitted to taking the chamber’s money,” the suit said.

“When pressed by the chamber members on why (the) defendant would steal, embezzle and convert the chamber’s money, she indicated it was to help a loved one,” the lawsuit added. “The extent of the money’s use is not known, but it was without the chamber’s permission or approval.”

The suit didn’t identify the loved one.

Katie Jedrzejczak, executive secretary for the Yale Area Chamber of Commerce, confirmed an ongoing investigation by law enforcement into the allegations but declined to comment further.

Through the suit, Yale Area Chamber of Commerce is seeking a $96,900 judgment against Kellie Lauwers and said the organization believes she “has begun the process of transferring assets to insiders or other individuals for the purpose of avoiding the chamber’s claims.”

Her husband, Dan Lauwers, a Republican from Brockway Township, has been an elected state lawmaker for longer than a decade, including the five years Kellie Lauwers was treasurer for the local chamber. He was in the Michigan House for six years before being elected to the state Senate in 2018.

He’s been a member of the Senate GOP’s leadership team, serving as minority floor leader. On Jan. 30, the Senate Republican Campaign Committee announced that Lauwers had been selected to be the committee’s chairman for the 2026 election, in which all 38 seats in the Senate will be on the ballot.

“I’m very confident Senate Republicans will have the message, candidates, resources and team to win back the majority,” Lauwers said in the statement on Jan. 30. “We have strong incumbents, while Democrats have vulnerable incumbents in seats trending Republican.”

Dan Lauwers didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the accusations against his wife on Feb. 4.

As of Feb. 4, according to records filed with the Secretary of State’s office, the listed record keeper for Dan Lauwers’ Senate campaign committee was Anne Minard, who was charged by Attorney General Dana Nessel in 2023 with 12 felonies, including embezzlement, for misusing political funds connected to former House Speaker Lee Chatfield, R-Levering.

Anne Minard, a longtime consultant, has pleaded not guilty and is fighting the charges, which are currently pending in Ingham County Circuit Court.