North Brunswick Woman Sentenced For Embezzling $42,000 In Patient Co-Payments

A former head cashier for the Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Group was sentenced today for embezzling approximately $42,000 from her employer, according to Acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman. 

Dewyna Brown, 38, of North Brunswick, the former head cashier for the Cash Administration Unit of the Robert Wood Johnson University Medical Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, was sentenced to five years of probation by Superior Court Judge Bradley J. Ferencz in Middlesex County.

Brown was ordered to pay restitution of approximately $42,000 and is permanently barred from public employment.  She pleaded guilty onApril 4 to a charge of third-degree theft by unlawful taking.

As head cashier, Brown was responsible for keeping track on spreadsheets of the money bags received by her unit and the envelopes in each bag containing cash, checks or credit card slips received as co-payments from patients for appointments and medical services.  In pleading guilty, Brown admitted that she stole envelopes containing cash and falsified the log sheets she prepared in order to cover up the thefts.

The state’s investigation revealed that, from 2011 until her suspension in January 2013, Brown routinely stole the cash from one or more envelopes on a daily basis, and omitted the envelopes from the total on the corresponding spreadsheet.  She took the cash for her personal use and hid the empty envelopes in her office.

Deputy Attorney General Heather Taylor prosecuted Brown and handled the sentencing for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.

The case was referred to the Division of Criminal Justice by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, which uncovered the thefts as a result of an internal audit.  Sgt. David Salzmann, Detective Timothy Herron and Deputy Attorney General Taylor conducted the investigation for the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau.