PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A former Doylestown Hospital director was charged Tuesday with stealing more than $600,000 from a charity fund.
Norma Galagarza, 68, paid taxes, cell phone bills, car payments and credit card bills with cash she funneled out of Doylestown Hospital’s Charitable Fund, according to the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office.
Investigators say from 2008 to 2021, Galagarza accessed the charity’s account 896 times, taking more than $604,000 to pay her bills.
The 68-year-old retired from her post as a director of medical staff in March 2021.
The DA’s office says around 2007, the Medical Executive Committee stopped receiving monthly statements on the account, which eventually went dormant. The thefts were discovered when the hospital started receiving charges for insufficient funds for the account.
The fund was originally created in 1991 to make donations to employees in need or for community projects. It was funded by physicians at the hospital and managed by the director of medical staff.
Galagarza is charged with multiple counts of theft, forgery and related offenses.
She was released without posting bail.