SCRANTON, PA — Angela Saar defrauded the Children’s Advocacy Center of Northeastern Pennsylvania (CAC/NEPA) of hundreds of thousands of dollars while employed there as the fiscal manager, according to criminal charges filed on July 25 by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

From November 2018 to June 2022, Saar, 51, of Olyphant, PA, diverted fraudulent payments of various kinds from CAC/NEPA bank accounts into her own personal bank accounts for her personal benefit, according to the charges. Some of the diverted payments involved fraudulent mileage reimbursements, while others involved Saar inflating her bi-weekly paychecks by thousands of dollars. The total amount of fraudulent diversions alleged is $412,000.

Children’s Advocacy Centers provide safe places where abused children can talk about their experiences without being re-traumatized. They tell their story to one trained interviewer, who records the interview. Previously, children had to retell their story to many different people, many different times, before an investigation would begin. Dickson House in Milford, which opened in November 2020, is a CAC.

The CAC/NEPA case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)–Scranton Resident Office of the Philadelphia Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Olshefski and Luisa Berti prosecuted the case.

The maximum penalty under federal law for this offense is 20 years in prison, a term of supervised release following imprisonment, and a maximum fine of $250,000, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.