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TRENTON
– Attorney General Stuart Rabner and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that the former CEO of a Mercer
County blood bank has been returned to New
Jersey after being arrested in Canada. Patrick
Deschenes fled New Jersey after being sentenced
to prison in December 2005 for stealing
$640,000 from the blood bank.
Deschenes,
48, formerly of Ewing, was arrested Feb.
20 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
in a town in Canada near the Maine border
where he was living with relatives. The
Division of Criminal Justice worked with
the U.S. Marshals Service’s NY/NJ
Regional Fugitive Task Force, the Mercer
County Sheriff’s Office and Interpol
to track him down after he failed to report
to prison in New Jersey on Jan. 9, 2006
to begin his 10-year prison sentence. He
was returned to New Jersey late yesterday
and lodged in the Mercer County Jail.
“This defendant could run, but he
couldn’t hide – not even after
leaving the United States,” said Attorney
General Rabner. “This arrest is the
result of perseverance by members of the
Division of Criminal Justice, the U.S. Marshals
Service and Mercer County Sheriff’s
Office, with strong cooperation from our
federal and international partners under
the auspices of the NY/NJ Regional Fugitive
Task Force.”
Attorney General Rabner specifically credited
the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Department
of Justice, Interpol and the Royal Canadian
Mounted Police. He credited State Investigator
Raymond Gardner and Deputy Attorney General
Francine Pozner-Ehrenberg of the Division
of Criminal Justice, as well as Detective
Chris Kenyon of the Mercer County Sheriff's
Office, who is assigned to the NY/NJ Regional
Fugitive Task Force.
Deschenes
pleaded guilty to money laundering and theft
and was sentenced in December 2005 to 10
years in state prison by Superior Court
Judge Charles A. Delehey in Mercer County.
From 1999 to 2004, Deschenes, former CEO
of The Community Blood Council of New Jersey
Inc. (CBCNJ) colluded with the owner of
a blood product supplier, Bio-Matter Inc.
of Malvern, PA., to inflate the price of
blood products purchased by CBCNJ. CBCNJ
is a non-profit blood bank licensed by the
State of New Jersey to provide blood supplies
and products to area hospitals and medical
care providers. Deschenes split the excess
profits with the owner of Bio-Matter, John
Greenleaf, 71, of Blue Bell, PA. Over the
course of five years, 59 checks totaling
$640,888 were issued by Bio-Matter to Deschenes.
Greenleaf pleaded guilty to theft by deception
and was sentenced to probation. He served
180 days in jail and repaid $250,000 to
the blood bank.
>>
View
photo of Patrick Deschenes
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