A former office manager at the Roberts Engineering Group pleaded guilty on Wednesday to a charge of second-degree theft by deception, Mercer County Prosecutor Angelo J. Onofri reported.
Authorities said Karen Thompson, age 45, of South Brunswick, worked as an office manager and performed payroll functions for Roberts Engineering Group in Hamilton, NJ, from 2004 until 2017. In pleading guilty this week, Thompson admitted to paying herself unauthorized reimbursements from January 2012 through April 2017, resulting in a loss in excess of $500,000 to her employer.
She allegedly manipulated and altered computer records in the company’s accounting and payroll software to commit the theft.
The state is recommending a three-year prison term and restitution in the amount of $516,714.77 to the company when Thompson is sentenced on December 13.
The charges are the result of an investigation by Detective Matthew Bagley of the Hamilton Police Division and Criminal Forensic Auditor Kerry Czymek of the New Jersey Division of Taxation. Assistant Prosecutor Rachel Cook, chief of the prosecutor’s Economic Crime Unit, handled the case.