Former Doylestown Hospital Director Pleads Guilty To Embezzlement

DOYLESTOWN, PA — A 68-year-old Chalfont woman pleaded guilty on Monday, April 15 to embezzling more than $600,000 from a charitable account at Doylestown Hospital.

Former medical staff director Norma Galagarza entered an open guilty plea to felony counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, forgery, access device fraud, and computer trespass.

Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey L. Finley sentenced Galagarza to five years of probation. The sentencing guidelines called for 6 to 14 months in the standard range.

Galagarza, who retired from the hospital in March 2021, previously paid full restitution of $604,702.29 to the Doylestown Hospital medical staff.

“This case is another reminder that in any business setting, even the most trusted employee can betray the organization,” Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber said. “No one is beyond systemic controls and oversight.

“I want to thank Doylestown Hospital staff for acting quickly and diligently when the defendant’s thefts were discovered. The defendant was able to keep her thefts hidden for many years. Thanks to the hospital’s quick actions and top-notch investigative work by detectives, the Commonwealth was able to secure this conviction and the full payment of restitution to Doylestown Hospital medical staff.”

The joint investigation by Bucks County Detectives and the Doylestown Township Police Department began in January 2022 when the hospital’s Board of Directors reported they began receiving insufficient funds charges on one of their accounts they were unaware was open.

Galagarza worked as the Director of Medical Staff for Doylestown Hospital and as part of her duties, she oversaw an account set up by the medical executive committee for charitable donations.

The account, known as the Charitable Fund, was created in 1991 as an employee benevolent fund to make charitable contributions to the community and employees in need. It was funded strictly by donations made by physician leaders and was managed by the director of medical staff.

Sometime around 2007, the Medical Executive Committee, who oversees the Charitable Fund, stopped receiving monthly statements on the account and it eventually went dormant. It wasn’t until hospital officials began receiving the insufficient funds notices that they realized the account was still open.

Hospital personnel reviewed statements from the previous year and found unauthorized account activity which included unauthorized withdrawals and deposits, totaling more than $55,000 from October 2020 to December 2021. Hospital personnel also became aware that the mailing address of the account was changed from the hospital address to Galagarza's home dress.

As the director of medical staff, Galagarza was the sole person responsible for the reporting of all monies spent.

Detectives obtained search warrants and analyzed Galagarza’s expenses, finding that she made approximately 896 unauthorized transactions totaling approximately $604,702.29 from 2008 to 2021.

Their analysis found that she used the hospital’s money for personal expenses.

Following Galagarza's arrest last October, Doylestown Hospital issued the following statement:

"Last year, Doylestown Health discovered an unauthorized account to which benevolent medical staff funds were being misdirected. The matter was immediately reported to the appropriate authorities.

"These were private funds of the independent medical staff and were in no way connected to the operation of Doylestown Hospital. This isolated incident has had no impact on patient care or delivery of services," said the statement.