The ex-business manager of a Massachusetts nursing home will spend the next year and half in prison after admitting to stealing more than $500,000 from the facility.
Sherry Verdick, 45, of Methuen, MA, was sentenced on Tuesday after pleading guilty to five counts of larceny, three counts of forgery, three counts of uttering and obtaining a signature under false pretenses and two counts of making false entries in corporate books with intent to defraud, the Eagle-Tribune first reported.
The crimes took place between January 2016 and September 2018 at the Berkeley Retirement and Nursing Home, a 40-bed facility in Lawrence, MA, according to the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General.
Verdick, while serving as the business manager, said she used her position and wrote 394 checks to herself that totaled $412,000. She also forged her signature on other checks, used the facility’s corporate credit card to purchase $19,000 in items and paid for $10,500 of her personal healthcare expenses from one of the nursing home’s bank accounts.
Representatives from the nursing home who spoke in court said the facility’s budget now remains “bare bones” due to losses suffered from Verdick’s illegal activity. Her actions were also described as “selfish, self-centered and unnecessary” by Berkeley’s Nursing Director Denise Murray.
“Everyday it is on our minds we could lose our jobs and what would happen to our beloved residents?” Berkeley management team members said in a victim impact statement.
Verdick was also ordered to serve nine months on house arrest, five years of probation, and pay restitution in addition to her year and half prison sentence. A restitution hearing will be scheduled after her prison release. Her sentence will begin on Oct. 12.
