MONTGOMERY — A Brick woman is accused of stealing nearly $70,000 from a Belle Mead-based nonprofit organization where she formerly worked as a bookkeeper and office manager, according to authorities.
Lisa England, 38, was charged Monday with third-degree theft by deception after turning herself into authorities, Somerset County Prosecutor Wayne Forrest and Montgomery Township Police Director Robert Palmer announced in a statement.
She worked for a year beginning in September 2008 at Artistic Realization Technologies, which creates technology that allows physically challenged people to express artistic creativity, according to the statement.
Ms. England is accused of taking advantage of the nonprofit’s founder, who is blind. The victim would sign all documents and checks that Ms. England prepared, trusting her representations, according to the statement.
After her termination for unrelated issues, a new bookkeeper discovered numerous PayPal transactions from the nonprofit’s account into Ms. England’s account that were never authorized, according to the statement.
A review of PayPal records show that $22,689 was transferred to Ms. England’s account, and a review of the nonprofit’s Sovereign Bank accounts show that $46,682.44 was paid to the former employee. The victim provided a sworn statement that he did not authorize any of the transactions.
Ms. England turned herself in to detectives from the county prosecutor’s office Monday. She is being held in $25,000 bail at the Somerset County Jail.
