By Alex Lloyd Gross
Yolanda M. Torres, 44, of Hamilton, New Jersey pleaded guilty Tuesday to dealing in proceeds of unlawful activity, theft, identity theft, unlawful use of a computer and computer trespass, admitting she fleeced Shu Dental Laboratory, Inc., of hundreds of thousands of dollars between 2016 and 2018. According to Court records, she started stealing almost from the very first day of her employment.
She gave herself pay raises, issued checks her herself, family members and other groups she was associated with. It that was not enough, she abused the company credit card.
Out of a sense of duty to his employees, the 71-year-old owner of Shu Dental said, he drained his retirement fund to keep the business afloat. Now instead of retiring in May of last year – the 45th anniversary of his move to the United States from China – the company’s owner now says he expects to continue working at least another seven or eight years. “What took the victim in this case decades to build, Yolanda Torres nearly destroyed in just two years,” said Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber. “This defendant is a predator who, starting on day one of her employment, left a trail of destruction in her wake.” President Judge Wallace H. Bateman Jr. accepted Torres’ plea, and ordered her to serve six to 20 years in state prison followed by 10 years of probation. She also must make restitution of $475,668.
A review of the company’s accounting logs showed Torres issued 188 unauthorized checks, each fraudulently stamped with the signature of the company’s owner. Investigators determined that she falsified documentation to make 177 of those expenditures appear legitimate. The other 11 had no supporting documentation.
She also used some of the stolen money to fund the election campaign of Marge Caldwell-Wilson, a Trenton Council member.
The investigation into the thefts began in July after a client contacted Shu Dental Laboratory to report an unauthorized $1,316 charge on his business credit card completed by Torres.