TRENTON – Attorney General Jeffrey S. Chiesa announced that the secretary of a Bergen County law firm has been sentenced for stealing more than $53,000 from her employer.
Roxanne D. Elliott, 52, of Hackensack, was sentenced on Friday (March 22) to 364 days in jail and five years of probation by Superior Court Judge Edward J. Jerejian in Bergen County. However, the judge ordered that Elliott serve the jail term at the end of the period of probation, and if she properly completes probation, the sentence may be suspended. Judge Jerijian also ordered Elliott to pay restitution. The sentence was based on Elliott’s guilty plea last month to a criminal accusation charging third-degree theft by deception.
In pleading guilty on Feb. 8, Elliott admitted that between Dec. 14, 2010 and June 13, 2011, she stole $53,830 by issuing five checks from her employer’s bank account to her own personal bank account. An investigation determined that Elliott accessed her employer’s account by forging her employer’s signature on various checks, transferring funds between accounts and issuing checks made payable to herself without the consent or knowledge of her employer.
Deputy Attorney General Frank Brady and Detective Abraham Aquino, both from the Division of Criminal Justice’s Financial and Computer Crimes Bureau, coordinated the investigation. Deputy Attorney General Brady represented the Division of Criminal Justice at the sentencing. Attorney General Chiesa thanked the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office for referring the matter to the Division. He also thanked the Hackensack Police Department for its assistance in the investigation.
Attorney General Chiesa and Director Elie Honig noted that the Division of Criminal Justice has a confidential, toll-free tipline for the public to report financial fraud, corruption and other illegal activities: 1-866-TIPS-4CJ. The public also can log on to the Division Web site at www.njdcj.org to report suspected wrongdoing confidentially.#### |