'Well yeah I took it': Employee stole $35K from dentist's office in Adams County: police

An administrative assistant for an Adams County dentist's office told police "well yeah, I took it" after allegedly stealing more than $35,000 from the office and its patients and forging insurance claims, according to court documents.

Rebecca Chapman, 57, of Gettysburg, is facing 12 felony charges, including forgery, unlawful taking, receiving stolen property and insurance fraud, court records show.

Chapman had worked as the administrative assistant for the dentist's office of Brent Guise Family Dentistry in the 100 block of Chambersburg Street in Gettysburg, according to court documents.

According to an affidavit of probable cause filed by Gettysburg Borough Police Department, Chapman was responsible for handling accounts receivable, along with deposits, for the office.

In this job, Chapman would take cash, personal checks and insurance checks and deposit them into the office's business accounts at a local bank.

On Feb.y 20, 2024, police were called to the office for a report of fraud, forgery and theft.

According to the affidavit, police were shown checks that a now-former employee, Chapman, had endorsed with her own signature and deposited into her own personal bank accounts.

Police were also then shown that Chapman had made a fraudulent insurance claim for a patient; the patient never had the procedure and had never received an insurance check, the affidavit said.

It was later found that the insurance check for the fraudulent claim was in the personal account of Chapman, according to the affidavit.

Additionally, police were advised that Chapman would write off certain amounts of money from procedures if paid in cash to entice patients to use cash that Chapman would then steal, the affidavit states.

On May 7, 2024, police obtained a search warrant for Chapman's personal bank accounts, court records state, and police obtained those records on May 17, 2024.

Those records showed that Chapman had endorsed the personal and insurance checks made payable to the office with her own signature and had deposited them in her own personal account, along with surveillance footage that showed Chapman depositing the checks, the affidavit states.

On May 27, Chapman was interviewed at the Gettysburg Borough Police Department, where officers questioned her on the thefts.

According to the affidavit, when officers asked Chapman if she had stolen the cash, she stated, "Well yeah, I took it, ain't that the same?"

Chapman told officers that the money she stole was used to fund a gambling addiction, according to the affidavit.

The total estimated loss for the dentist's office was $35,644.