Toms River Home Health Aide Admits Stealing From Patient

A 44-year-old home health aide from Toms River is likely to spend a year minus a day in Ocean County Jail for forging and cashing a patient's personal checks and spending $144,950 on personal luxuries.

New Jersey Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa's office says that Yvette Bullard-Tebbetts pleaded guilty Monday before Ocean County Superior Court Judge Wendell Daniels.

Bullard-Tebbetts had been indicted last November. She was charged with three counts of theft by deception and two counts of uttering a forged instrument.

Her appearance in Ocean County Court followed her return from Florida, by virtue of a Governor's Warrant issued by the Medicaid Fraud Unit of the Office of the Insurance Fraud Prosecutor.

Bullard-Tebbetts admitted using the money to finance  trips to Atlantic City casinos and other travel spots, as well as for jewelry, clothes and a car. She confessed to cashing the checks at PNC and Bank of America branches.

In accord with the plea agreement, prosecutors will recommend 364 days in jail and full restitution when she's sentenced September 7.