Yale exec allegedly stole millions in equipment
An emergency department manager at Yale’s University’s school of medicine turned herself into authorities Friday and was accused of stealing millions of dollars from the school by purchasing as much as $30 million in computer hardware through school accounts and secretly reselling it for her own profit.
FBI accountants and investigators were still working as Jamie Petrone-codrington was arrested to determine how long the scheme has been operating and how much it cost the school.
Petrone-codrington, 41, of Naugatuck, has worked for the Yale University School of Medicine’s Department of Emergency Medicine since 2008, most recently as director of finance and administration. She was authorized to purchase computer electronic for the school without approval as long as the purchase amounts were below $10,000. At least as early as 2013, she is accused of ordering, or instructing her employees to place large orders for equipment and then arranging for its sale to an out-of-state business authorities would not identify.
Yale reported the thefts to federal prosecutors and FBI agents opened an investigation on Aug. 25. The following day, Petrone-codrington gave authorities what they describe as a voluntary statement in which she reportedly admitted devising the scheme and stealing from the school “for several years, possibly as many as ten years.”
Petrone-codrington reportedly told FBI agents that “approximately 90% of her computer-related purchases were fraudulent.”
She was charged with fraud and money laundering offenses and later released on a $1 million bond.
An FBI affidavit unsealed Friday said Petrone-codrington arranged for years to order computer hardware in lots valued as less than $10,000 to avoid the need to obtain prior approval by higher ups in the school’s purchasing operation. Purchase records reviewed so far, according to the affidavit, show she drafted thousands of purchase orders for sums less than $10,000, but valued collectively at about $30 million.
Over the last eight months alone, FBI investigators suspect PetroneCodrington ordered millions of dollars of equipment - 8,000 ipads and Surface Pro tablets since January and $2.1 million in other sorts of computer between late May and mid-august. FBI accounts have yet to determine what portion, if any, of the orders since January was legitimate.
The affidavit asserts that on the Surface Pro purchase, Yale records show that Petrone-codrington instructed an employee to prepare documentation on May 26 for an order of 100 of the computer tablets. The employee prepared 12 purchase orders for 8 Surface Pros each, at $9,102.56 per order, and one purchase order for 4 Surface Pros, worth $4,551.28.
On May 27, Petronecodrington’s out-of-state business customer mailed her Fedex shipping labels addressed to the customer’s New York location. The same day, the out-of-state business wired $71,800 to an account controlled by Petronecodrington, according to the FBI affidavit.
Petrone-codrington is charged with mail fraud, wire fraud and money laundering which carry maximum penalties of 20 years.