Court documents say a Trumbull woman bilked about $247,000 from Hewitt Health and Rehab in Shelton to feed a gambling addiction.
The woman, Angelina Velasquez, 46, was sentenced to 15 months in prison during a federal court hearing Thursday (May 23) in New Haven.
Velasquez worked as a payroll and human resources coordinator at Hewitt Health and Rehab on Maltby Street.
From September 2007 until November 2009, federal prosecutors said she issued checks to employees at the business, only to intercept them and cash the checks for personal gain.
She managed to cover her tracks by manipulating the payroll data within Hewitt Health and Rehab, crediting the employees for hours they had not worked.
The government also alleged Velasquez stole money from an employee after helping the employee file a tax return.
While the company’s insurance policy covered most of the theft, the business still had to pay a deductible. Also, the theft threw employees’ 401k and tax data into chaos.
Hewitt Health worked with employees to straighten out the paperwork mess so that employees did not lose money, according to court documents.
In all, Velasquez generated 350 false checks, forging the names of some 87 different employees.
“The defendant’s fraud was driven by her gambling addiction, which took control of her and forced her to lead a double life,” her lawyer, Matthew Couloute, wrote in a sentencing memo.
The court document pointed out Velasquez had no prior criminal record, but started going to casinos several times a week, where she accumulated massive losses — sometimes several thousand dollars in a single night.
“As a result, the defendant was in desperate need to cover the financial losses from her gambling addiction,” Couloute wrote.
Velasquez sought treatment for her gambling addiction.
She’ll have three years of probation after her release from prison.
