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Lisa M. Hoffman, 49, of Orange, used her authority to order excessive amounts of medication for the outpatient pharmacy from the Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) in East Orange, Acting U.S. Attorney Rachael A. Honig said.
Surveillance cameras helped show how she “placed large orders for HIV medication, purportedly on behalf of the VAMC,” the U.S. attorney said.
“After the medications arrived, Hoffman waited until co-workers were out of sight and then removed [the excess medications] from the VAMC,” she said.
Video shows Hoffman “placing them in a white mail bin and then transferring the medications from the mail bin to her bag and exiting with the stolen medication,” Honig said.
Hoffman admitted selling the drugs to Wagner Checonolasco, 34, who, in turn, sold them for a profit.
Checonolasco took a deal from the government, pleading guilty in August to his role in the scheme. He's scheduled to be sentencing on Dec. 15.
Hoffman cut her own deal, pleading guilty to theft of government property. Her sentencing was scheduled for March 9, 2022.
Honig credited special agents of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General's Northeast Field Office with the investigation leading to the pleas.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole F. Mastropieri of Honig's Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark is handling the case.
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