Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced that a Salem woman was sentenced in Superior Court today to seven years in New Jersey state prison for stealing nearly $850,000 from her employer while working as a bookkeeper over an eight-year period ending in 2017.
Officials say Lee Ann Kryszczak, 52, of the first block of Hiles Avenue, was employed as a controller for a Mount Laurel-based firm when she took advantage of a financial internal control weakness to funnel the money electronically into her personal bank account from 2009 through 2017.
The defendant pled guilty in August to Theft by Deception and Failure to File a Tax Return. At sentencing, the Hon. Philip E. Haines, J.S.C., ordered Kryszczak to make full restitution in the amount of $848,042.48.
Specifically, the company utilized an Internet-based application that allowed employees to submit and be reimbursed for business-related expenses. This application did not communicate automatically with the company’s accounting software and payroll system.
Expenses submitted through this application had to be manually inputted into the payroll system to allow each employee to be reimbursed through the normal payroll process.
The application also had the capability to allow for direct reimbursement to employees through electronic deposit into a personal bank account for expenses submitted. The accounting responsibilities for expense reimbursements fell under Kryszczak, who utilized her position to misappropriate funds into her personal bank account.
“It is especially egregious when someone who is entrusted with helping to oversee the financial integrity of a business takes illegal action to exploit a shortcoming in the control mechanism for personal gain,” Prosecutor Coffina said. “I am grateful to our Financial Crimes Unit for bringing justice to the victim. This type of criminal behavior will continue to be vigorously investigated and prosecuted by our office.”
The case was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Andrew McDonnell, supervisor of the BCPO Financial Crimes Unit. The lead investigator was former BCPO Detective Wayne Comegno.