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Wagner Checonolasco, 34, must serve out just about all of the plea-bargained sentence because there's no parole in the federal prison system.
Checonolasco, better known as “Wanny,” had an accomplice in Lisa M. Hoffman of Orange, who worked in the pharmacy of the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in East Orange, U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger said.
Surveillance cameras helped show how Hoffman “placed large orders for HIV medication, purportedly on behalf of the VAMC,” 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, authorities, the indictment says.
Hoffman was responsible for ordering and maintaining the inventory of drugs and supplies for the outpatient pharmacy, Sellinger said.
She used her authority in that job to order large quantities of HIV prescription medications, from October 2015 through November 2019, “so that she could steal the excess,” the U.S. attorney said.
Hoffman waited until co-workers were out of sight to remove the medications from the VAMC once they arrived, he 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.
Checonolasco went to Hoffman’s home to buy the medication before selling it for a profit, it says.
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.
Hoffman, 48, of Orange, also took a guilty plea. She's scheduled for sentencing on March 9.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Judge Esther Salas Wagner sentenced on Thursday, Feb. 24, Checonolasco to three years of supervised release and ordered restitution of the full $8.2 million.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Inspector General’s Northeast Field Office with the ongoing investigation leading to Checonolasco's plea and sentence, secured by Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole F. Mastropieri of her Health Care Fraud Unit in Newark.
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