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A 51-year-old woman was sentenced Wednesday for assisting a former Newark city employee in a conspiracy to steal more than $1 million from the federally funded Women, Infants and Children nutrition program through of fraudulent vouchers.

Veronica Anderson, of Newark, was sentenced to three years of probation by state Superior Court Judge Michael A. Petrolle in Newark, according to Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor. Anderson pleaded guilty on Jan. 6 to third-degree receiving stolen property.

An ongoing investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice Corruption Bureau revealed that between Dec. 1, 2005, and Jan. 31, 2007, Charles Brown, a former senior clerk for the Newark WIC Program, and other employees conspired to issue more than $1 million in fake vouchers. In pleading guilty, Anderson admitted that she assisted Brown in distributing the vouchers. Brown did not have a car or driver's license, and Anderson, who did, would drive Brown to distribute the vouchers. She admitted that Brown paid her between $100 and $200 each time she drove him.

Brown, 42, of Newark, previously pleaded guilty to second-degree official misconduct for his role in the scheme and was sentenced last year to eight years in state prison by Petrolle. Last year, another former senior clerk in the Newark WIC Program, Wyetta Judson, 39, of Newark, pleaded guilty to second-degree official misconduct. She has not been sentenced yet. The state will recommend that she also be sentenced to prison.

On Dec. 1, Benedicto Bernal, 31, owner of Dreamers Supermarket on 7th Avenue in Newark, pleaded guilty to first-degree money laundering before Superior Court Judge Edward M. Neafsey in Trenton. Bernal, who was not an authorized WIC vendor, admitted that he purchased fraudulent vouchers from Brown and resold them by the stack to vendors in Essex, Camden, Union and Middlesex counties. The fraudulent vouchers were deposited into the bank accounts of more than 20 WIC-authorized vendors throughout New Jersey. The state will recommend that Bernal be sentenced to 10 years in prison, one-third of which would have to be served without possibility of parole.

The Division of Criminal Justice obtained a state grand jury indictment on June 8 charging Bernal and two other defendants: Audrey Walker Bey, 36, of Newark, a former clerk for the Newark WIC Program and Elvis Manuel Sanchez-Vasquez, 35, a former owner and manager of Sanchez Supermarket on Springdale Avenue in East Orange.

The charges against Walker Bey and Sanchez-Vasquez are pending. Walker Bey was arrested in 2008 as a result of the investigation and is free on $40,000 bail.

Sanchez-Vasquez was arrested in Newark on Feb. 9 by Division of Criminal Justice detectives. He is being held in the Mercer County Jail in lieu of $500,000 full cash bail.

The investigation began when the state Department of Health and Senior Services and the Newark Department of Health and Human Services alerted the Division of Criminal Justice to suspected thefts of vouchers from the Newark WIC Program.

Deputy Attorney Generals Michael A. Monahan and Jeffrey Manis are prosecuting the entire case. The investigation was conducted by Criminal Justice Det. Michael Behar and Sgt. David Salzmann, with the assistance of Administrative Analyst Kathleen Ratliff.

WIC is a federally funded program, administered by the state Department of Health and Senior Services, that provides low-income women who are pregnant or breast feeding and guardians of children up to age 5 with vouchers to purchase nutritional necessities, including baby formula, milk, orange juice and cereal. The vouchers can be redeemed at any store approved as a WIC vendor for food items specifically listed on the voucher. Once redeemed, the vendor completes the voucher by filling in the cost of the product supplied. The Newark WIC Program is one of 18 WIC programs in New Jersey.

— TOM HESTER SR., NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM