She used the staff account debit card to make more than 130 purchases that were not authorized by the health care system, prosecutors said. The purchases included groceries, repairs on her car, payments to a timeshare, meals at restaurants and Apple electronics.
Jhoanna Engelhardt-Fullar
PRINCETON BOROUGH – The former medical staff director at Princeton Healthcare System has been sentenced to four years in prison after she admitted to stealing approximately $200,000 from the nonprofit company.
Jhoanna Engelhardt-Fullar, 42, appeared before Judge Gerald Council in Mercer County Superior Court in Trenton on Friday for her sentencing hearing.
Engelhardt-Fullar, a Burlington Township resident, admitted to writing company checks to herself and making unauthorized purchases on a company debit card for 18 months starting in April 2010. She took cash for personal use from the nonprofit, the parent organization of the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro.
Engelhardt-Fullar worked for the organization when it still operated a hospital on Witherspoon Street in Princeton. The new Plainsboro hospital opened in May and the old facility was shut down.
Princeton Healthcare System detected the thefts in February. After an internal audit revealed potential irregularities, the organization informed the police and the county prosecutor's office, which investigated further, a company representative said.
Engelhardt-Fullar was fired and in May she was charged with fraud. In October she admitted the thefts and accepted a plea agreement. As part of her sentence, Council ordered Engelhardt-Fullar to pay $72,000 in restitution.
Engelhardt-Fullar began writing fake checks to herself and transferring the money budgeted for the staff account to her own credit cards in 2010 and continued through December 2011.
She used the staff account debit card to make more than 130 purchases that were not authorized by the health care system, prosecutors said. The purchases included groceries, repairs on her car, payments to a timeshare, meals at restaurants and Apple electronics.
If she had not pleaded guilty and entered into a plea agreement, Englehardt-Fullar could have faced up to 10 years in prison.