Ely city official guilty of embezzlement

A banker and former city councilman in Ely pleaded guilty Monday to embezzling at least $3.7 million over the course of a decade from the First National Bank of Ely, according to a statement from U.S. Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner of the Eastern District of California.

Stephen Marich, 43, was a vice president at the bank and resigned from the Ely City Council in the middle of his third term in January 2010, shortly after the investigation began.

He entered his plea in front of U.S. District Judge Kent Dawson, who will sentence him May 11. Marich faces a potential 30-year sentence.