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Lisa M. Hoffman, 50, of Orange, will have to serve just about all of the term because there’s no parole in the federal prison system.
U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas also sentenced Hoffman on Thursday to three years of supervised release while ordering her to pay the full $8.29 million in restitution – and to forfeit an additional $450,000.
Hoffman was responsible for ordering and maintaining the inventory of drugs and supplies for the outpatient pharmacy, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Surveillance cameras helped show how she “placed large orders for HIV medication” for the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in East Orange, then stole the excess once it was delivered, an indictment returned in U.S. District Court in Newark says.
Encrypted messages outlined how the scheme worked, it adds.
Hoffman waited until co-workers were out of sight to remove the medications from the VAMC once they arrived, prosecutors said.
Video shows her putting them in a white mail bin first and then moving them from the bin to her bag before exiting with them, according to the indictment.
Hoffman sold the medications to Wagner Checonolasco, 35, of Lyndhurst, during deals at her home, authorities said. He then resold the drugs for profit, they said.
“Wanny” Checonolasco took a deal from the government rather than risk trial, pleading guilty in federal court in Newark last August to conspiring to steal government property. In exchange, he was sentenced to 2½ years in federal prison earlier this past February.
Hoffman took her plea deal last November.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Northeast Field Office for the investigation leading to Hoffman’s plea and sentence, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole F. Mastropieri of his Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.
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