Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) today announced the sentencing of a Mercer County woman for her theft of more than $268,000 in the form of survivor benefits she fraudulently collected from her deceased husband’s pension, knowing she was no longer eligible for the payments after she had remarried.
Sandra VonScheven, 49, of Hamilton, New Jersey, was ordered on August 23, 2024 by state Superior Court Judge Joseph A. Hughes to pay restitution in full to the New Jersey Division of Pension and Benefits. Judge Hughes, presiding in Superior Court in Mercer County, additionally ordered the defendant to serve a term of probation conditioned on 364 days in the county jail. The court suspended the jail term pending the defendant’s successful completion of probation.
VonScheven had been indicted by a state grand jury in January 2021, resulting from an investigation by the OPIA Corruption Bureau and the Pension Fraud and Abuse Unit of the State Treasury’s Division of Pensions and Benefits. The defendant reached a plea agreement with the Attorney General’s Office in June 2024.
“This sentence should serve as a warning that we will not allow individuals to enrich themselves at the expense of New Jersey taxpayers and public servants,” said Attorney General Platkin. “This crime went on for nearly a decade, but it was ultimately detected and the defendant held responsible.”
“For years the defendant unlawfully collected taxpayer funds she knew she should no longer be getting, instead of doing the right thing and informing the State that she had remarried,” said Drew Skinner, Executive Director of OPIA. “As a result of this case, the defendant will be held to account and to repay her ill-gotten gains.”
Based on publicly filed documents and statements in open court, in November 2001, VonScheven began collecting survivor spousal benefits from the pension of her deceased husband, who had been a retired municipal police officer in New Jersey. Surviving spouses are entitled to widow or widower’s benefits under the Police and Firemen’s Retirement System. Survivor benefits continue for life or until the surviving spouse remarries.
The Division of Pensions and Benefits subsequently notified OPIA that VonScheven had continued to receive survivor spousal benefits from her late husband’s pension despite the fact that she had remarried back on January 15, 2010. VonScheven knew her survivor benefits should have been discontinued when she remarried, but she nevertheless continued accepting the benefits every month through November 2019. In total, she received more than $268,000 in benefits to which she was not entitled.
The case was handled by Deputy Attorneys General Brian Uzdavinis and Adam Gerken of the OPIA Corruption Bureau, under the supervision of Bureau Deputy Chief Frank Valdinoto, Bureau Chief Jeff Manis, and OPIA Executive Director Skinner.
Defense Attorney
Edward Bertuccio, Freehold Borough, New Jersey
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