Virginia DeBerri was dealing with addictions to pills, alcohol and gambling when she stole the money, her attorney said
Virginia DeBerri FREEHOLD -- The former bookkeeper for an environmental consulting firm was sentenced to six years in prison for stealing more than $1 million from the company to finance her gambling addiction.
Virginia DeBerri, 53, of Brick Township, tearfully apologized to her former employers on Friday as Superior Court Judge Richard English imposed the sentence that was a year less than what prosecutors had requested.
DeBerri admitted in January that while she was bookkeeper for Foresight Enviroprobe Inc. in Millstone she increased her pay when she wasn't authorized to do so and she wrote checks payable to cash that she deposited into her personal checking account between 2010 and 2015.
Over the course of those five years, she wrote out more than 500 unauthorized checks totaling more than $1 million, authorities have said.
She pleaded guilty on Jan. 31 to one count of theft by unlawful taking, a second-degree offense that is usually punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Under the plea deal, Assistant Monmouth County Prosecutor Lawrence Nelson recommended seven years in prison but English reduced that by a year, said her attorney, Michael Nolan Jr. of Brick Township.
Nolan said DeBerri was very emotional apologizing to her former employers, who were in the courtroom.
He said she struggled for many years with addictions to Xanax, alcohol and gambling and stole from the company to finance those addictions.
"Were it not for this lifelong struggle, none of this would have ever happened," Nolan said in an email on Saturday.
The case was jointly investigated by the prosecutor's office and New Jersey State Police.
MaryAnn Spoto may be reached at mspoto@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @MaryAnnSpoto. Find NJ.com on Facebook.