Yale Med School Employee Stole Millions In Computer Hardware: DOJ

NEW HAVEN, CT —A 41-year-old Naugatuck woman was charged by federal criminal complaint with fraud and money laundering offenses related to her alleged theft of millions of dollars in computer hardware from the Yale University School of Medicine where she was employed, the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI announced Friday.

Jamie Petrone-Codrington surrendered to law enforcement Friday, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert M. Spector in New Haven and was released on a $1 million bond, according to Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut Leonard Boyle and Special Agent in Charge of the New Haven Division of the FBI.

As alleged in the complaint, the DOJ said, beginning in around 2008, Petrone-Codrington was employed by the Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, and most recently served as the Director of Finance and Administration for the Department of Emergency Medicine.

As part of her job responsibilities, Petrone-Codrington had authority to make and authorize certain purchases for departmental needs as long as the purchase amount stayed below $10,000, prosecutors said. Beginning at least as early as 2013, Petrone-Codrington engaged in a scheme where she ordered, or "caused others working for her," to order millions of dollars of computer hardware from Yale vendors using Yale Med funds and arranged to ship the stolen hardware to an out-of-state business in exchange for money, the DOJ said.

It's also alleged that Petrone-Codrington falsely represented on Yale internal forms and in electronic communications that the hardware was for specified Yale Med needs, such as particular medical studies, and she broke up the fraudulent purchases into orders below the $10,000 threshold that would require additional approval, the Acting U.S. Attorney for CT said, adding that the out-of-state business, which resold the computer hardware to customers, paid Petrone-Codrington by wiring funds into an account of a company in which she is a principal.

The criminal complaint charges Petrone-Codrington with mail fraud, which carries a maximum of 20 years; wire fraud, which carries a maximum of 20 years; and money laundering, which carries a maximum of 10 year in prison.

Boyle "stressed that a complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt."

This case is being investigated by the FBI and the Yale Police Department.