An office manager who embezzled more than $150,000 from a Hamilton small business was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay restitution, state authorities said Friday.
TRENTON -- An office manager who embezzled more than $150,000 from a Hamilton small business was sentenced to three years in prison and ordered to pay restitution, state authorities said Friday.
Coleen Gibbas, 52, of Conshohocken, Pa., pleaded guilty in June to second-degree theft by unlawful taking after she was accused of stealing almost $151,000 from her employer, Tri-State Knife Grinding Corp., over six years.
Gibbas was employed as an office manager by Tri-State Knife, which has industrial contracts to sharpen knives and industrial equipment, from 2001 to March 2015, earning an annual salary of up to $67,000, the Attorney General's office said.
Gibbas' job responsibilities included preparing and issuing checks to the company's employees and vendors, which required her to obtain the signature of the company's owner on each check or to sign checks that he authorized her to sign, the office said.
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From November 2008 to March 2005, Gibbas forged the owner's signature on most of the 100 fraudulent checks or signed her own name without the owner's authorization, authorities said. She then deposited the checks into her bank account.
Gibbas made fake entries in the check register, indicating that the checks had been paid to a vendor used by the company when the checks were made payable to her, according to the Attorney General's office.
Coleen Gibbas "White collar crime can result in serious harm to businesses, particularly small businesses like the one in this case," Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said in a statement.
Gibbas' attorneys said she was immediately remorseful and cooperated with authorities. Her lawyer in Pennsylvania, Michael Reed, said Gibbas has emptied her 401(k) to begin paying restitution.
"She thought she was treated fairly by everybody, including by the judge that sentenced her to day," Reed said.
According to the news release, she will make an initial, $88,000 payment next week.
"She's looking forward to complying with the restitution, moving on and forward with her life," said Gibbas' New Jersey attorney Sarah Brewer-Clarius. "She's extremely remorseful and has taken full responsibility."
Samantha Marcus may be reached at smarcus@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @samanthamarcus. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
