Former Employee Sentenced To Five Years For Theft From Bon-Ton Stores Foundation

     The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania announced today the sentencing of a former employee of the Bon-Ton Stores Foundation for mail fraud and tax evasion in connection with the theft of more than $1.3 million.  Christine S. DeJuliis, 53, of York, Pennsylvania, was sentenced to serve five years in federal prison for stealing from the Bon-Ton Stores Foundation and failing to pay taxes on the money she stole.

     United States Attorney Peter J. Smith said that DeJuliis was sentenced to the term of incarceration by U.S. District Court Judge Yvette Kane in Harrisburg.  DeJuliis had previously pleaded guilty to mail fraud charges involving a scheme she devised to steal money from the Foundation while she was employed as an assistant to the head of the Foundation and to tax evasion charges for failing to pay taxes on the money she stole.  The judge noted that DeJuliis had been placed in a position of significant trust by the Foundation and that she violated that trust over the course of her nine-year crime.

     Assistant U.S. Attorney James T. Clancy noted that the community work DeJuliis was seeking credit for performing was the very kind of work the Foundation would have been funding others to do if she had not stolen the Foundation’s money.  Clancy also noted that although DeJuliis spoke of being sorry for committing the crime and vowed to pay restitution, she has not yet paid back any money to the Foundation.

     In addition to spending five years in federal prison, she will be on supervised release – a form of probation – for three years after her release from custody.  Judge Kane also ordered that DeJuliis make restitution to the Foundation and the Bon-Ton Stores, Inc., in the amount of $1,376,885 and to the IRS in the amount of $170,890.

     The Bon-Ton Stores, Inc. and the Bon-Ton Stores Foundation cooperated with the investigation and prosecution of the case.  The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Secret Service and Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation.