Salem Woman Stole Over $850K From Burlington County Company: Cops

A South Jersey woman has been sentenced to seven years in New Jersey state prison for stealing nearly $850,000 from her employer while working as a bookkeeper over an eight-year period, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina announced.

Lee Ann Kryszczak, 52, of Salem, previously admitted to funneling the money electronically into her bank account from the Mount Laurel-based firm she worked for from 2009 through 2017, authorities said.

She took advantage of a financial internal control weakness to do so, authorities said. Specifically, the company used an Internet-based application that allowed employees to submit and be reimbursed for business-related expenses.

However, the system didn’t communicate automatically with the company’s accounting software and payroll system, authorities said. Expenses submitted through this program had to be manually input into the payroll system to allow each employee to be reimbursed through the normal payroll process.

Employees could also be reimbursed directly through electronic deposit into a personal bank account for expenses submitted. Kryszczak oversaw those reimbursements, but authorities said she used her position to misappropriate funds into her personal bank account.

In August, she pleaded guilty to second-degree theft by deception and third-degree failure to file a tax return. In addition to her prison sentence, she must make full restitution of f $848,042.48 to the company.

“It is especially egregious when someone who is entrusted with helping to oversee the financial integrity of a business takes illegal action to exploit a shortcoming in the control mechanism for personal gain,” Coffina said. “I am grateful to our Financial Crimes Unit for bringing justice to the victim. This type of criminal behavior will continue to be vigorously investigated and prosecuted by our office.”

The case was prosecuted by Assistant Prosecutor Andrew McDonnell, supervisor of the BCPO Financial Crimes Unit. The lead investigator was former BCPO Detective Wayne Comegno.