Woman, 51, Formerly Of New Haven, Pleaded Guilty To Fraud Charge: Feds

NEW HAVEN, CT — A 51-year-old former New Haven woman waived her right to be indicted and pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of theft in connection with health care, according to the acting U.S. Attorney for Connecticut.

Lorita Fair, who now lives in Rock Hill, South Carolina and is out on a $50,000 bond, faces a maximum of 10 years in prison when she's sentenced July 27, per the Justice Department.

According to court documents, statements made in court and a news release from federal prosecutors, Yale New Haven Health Systems, with more than 30,000 employees, that provides medical care to patients at several locations in Connecticut and elsewhere. In January 2020, Fair began working in the payroll department of YNHHS as a temporary employee performing payroll functions. In May 2020, Fair was hired as a full-time employee as a Payroll Processing Associate at YNHHS. Sonn after, Fair began engaging in a scheme to embezzle money and funds from YNHHS by creating fraudulent entries in the YNHHS payroll system that resulted in Fair and two other individuals receiving payroll payments to which they were not entitled, prosecutors said.

As part of the scheme, Fair made fraudulent entries in the YNHHS payroll system — either by directly entering the fraudulent payments into the online system, or by manually adding lines to a spreadsheet of payroll payments, prosecutors said.

The fraudulent payments would then be made by direct deposit from the YNHHS payroll system into Fair’s and the other two individuals’ personal bank accounts, per the U.S. Attorney. The other two individuals then kicked back to Fair a portion of the fraudulent payroll funds they each received, feds said. Between June and December 2020, Fair caused a total of $116,260.41 in fraudulent payroll payments to be made to herself and the other two individuals, per the Justice Department.

Fair has agreed to make full restitution to YNHHS, according to the news release.