Coleen Gibbas, 51, of Conshohocken, Pa., pleaded guilty today to an accusation charging her with second-degree theft by unlawful taking before Superior Court Judge Timothy P. Lydon in Mercer County. In pleading guilty, Gibbas admitted that she stole $150,931 from her employer, Tri-State Knife Grinding Corp., between November 2008 and March 2015. Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Gibbas be sentenced to three years in state prison. She must pay full restitution and has agreed to make a lump-sum payment of more than 50 percent of the stolen amount at or prior to sentencing. Judge Lydon scheduled sentencing for Gibbas for Sept. 18.

Deputy Attorney General TJ Harker prosecuted the case and took the guilty plea for the Division of Criminal Justice Financial & Computer Crimes Bureau. Detective John Campanella was the lead detective for the Division of Criminal Justice. Valuable assistance was provided by the Hamilton Police Department, in particular Detective Scott Marshall.

“White collar crime can result in serious harm to businesses, particularly small businesses like the one in this case,” said Attorney General Hoffman. “By aggressively prosecuting offenders like this defendant, we send a strong deterrent message to others who might consider stealing from their employers.”

“The lawyers and detectives in our financial crimes bureau are experts at following the money trail and building strong cases against sophisticated crooks,” said Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “White collar criminals often believe they can cover their tracks, but we have the resources and the determination to expose them.”

Gibbas was employed as an office manager by Tri-State Knife between 2001 and March 2015, earning an annual salary of up to $67,000. Tri-State Knife has industrial contracts to sharpen knives and industrial equipment. Her job responsibilities included preparing and issuing checks to the company’s employees and vendors, which required her to obtain the signature of the company’s owner on each check or to sign checks that he authorized her to sign. She also was responsible for keeping accurate records in the company’s check register of the checks issued.

The state’s investigation revealed that between November 2008 and March 2015, she issued more than 100 unauthorized checks totaling approximately $150,931. She forged the owner’s signature on most of these checks or signed her own name without the owner’s authorization. She deposited the checks into her personal bank account. In most instances, in order to conceal the theft, she made false entries in the check register, indicating that the checks had been paid to a vendor used by the company, when in fact the checks were made payable to her.

Acting Attorney General Hoffman and Director Honig noted that the Division of Criminal Justice has established a toll-free Corruption Tipline 1-866-TIPS-4CJ for the public to confidentially report corruption, financial crime and other illegal activities. The public also can log on to the Division’s web page at www.njdcj.org to report suspected wrongdoing confidentially.

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