FREEHOLD – A South Amboy woman was sentenced to five years in a New Jersey state prison and ordered to pay $25,000 in restitution after admitting she stole nearly $140,000 from a local ophthalmology office, announced Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni.
According to officials, Sheryl Ward, 35, of Grove Street in South Amboy, pleaded guilty in May before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Ellen Torregrossa-O’Connor after an investigation showed that she processed over 130 fraudulent returns of customer transactions while employed as a contact lens technician for a Freehold-based ophthalmology group between August 2016 and January 2018.
Official say Ward stole $139,171.50 by creating falsified credit card returns that were directly deposited into her personal checking account.
The case was handled by Monmouth County Assistant Prosecutor Lawrence Nelsen.