A South Jersey woman will spend 8 years in prison for siphoning money from a nonprofit
Colleen Witten used her position as the chief financial officer of OTC Services in Burlington County to steal $2.5 million from the company, prosecutors said.
The former chief financial officer of a Burlington County nonprofit was sentenced to eight years in state prison for stealing $2.5 million from the company for personal expenses, including settling her credit card debt and buying vacation homes and a Corvette Stingray sports car, officials said Thursday.
Colleen Witten, 56, of Buena, Atlantic County, pleaded guilty in June to theft, money laundering, and tax evasion for the scheme, which took place during her time as an executive with OTC Services, a company that provides job training for adults with disabilities.
New Jersey State Attorney General Matthew Platkin said Witten’s prosecution reflects his office’s “unbreakable commitment to pursue justice for victims and hold accountable those who abuse their positions of trust to commit crimes.”
Witten’s attorney, Brendan Kavanagh, did not immediately return a request for comment.
Prosecutors said Witten altered corporate board meeting minutes to give herself the authority to open a company bank account, and then used the account to siphon money between May 2019 and March 2024.
She disguised the theft by laundering the money through checks issued to a landscaping business she owned with her husband, and the couple failed to pay taxes on these funds.
Witten’s husband, Allan, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of receiving stolen property for accepting money from the nonprofit for work he knew his business did not perform. He was sentenced to three years in state prison.