A former Doylestown Hospital director was charged Tuesday, October 24, 2023, with embezzling more than $600,000 from a hospital charitable account.

Norma Galagarza, 68, of Chalfont, was arraigned Tuesday on felony counts of theft by unlawful taking, theft by deception, receiving stolen property, knowledge that property is proceeds of illegal activity, forgery, access device fraud and computer trespass. She was arraigned by Magisterial District Judge Mark D. Douple was released on $250,000 unsecured bail.

Galagarza, the Director of Medical Staff for Doylestown Hospital, retired in March 2021. Part of her duties was to oversee an account set up by the Medical Executive Committee for charitable donations. 

The joint investigation by Bucks County Detectives and the Doylestown Township Police Department began in January 2022 when the hospital’s Board of Directors reported they began receiving insufficient funds charges on one of their accounts they were unaware was open and discovered unauthorized activity.

The account, known as the Charitable Fund, was created in 1991 as an employee benevolent fund to make charitable contributions to the community and employees in need. It was funded strictly by donations made by physician leaders, was overseen by a committee of physicians known as the Medical Executive Committee and was managed by the Director of Medical Staff.

Sometime around 2007, the Medical Executive Committee stopped receiving monthly statements on the account and it eventually went dormant. It wasn’t until hospital officials began receiving the insufficient funds notices that they realized the account was still open.

Hospital personnel reviewed statements from the previous year and found unauthorized account activity which included unauthorized withdrawals and deposits, totaling more than $55,000 from October 2020 to December 2021. Hospital personnel also became aware that the mailing address of the account was changed from the hospital address to Galagarza's home address.

As the Director of Medical Staff, Galagarza was the sole person responsible for the reporting of all monies spent.

Detectives obtained search warrants and analyzed Galagarza’s expenses, finding that she made approximately 896 unauthorized transactions totaling approximately $604,702.29 from 2008 to 2021.

Their analysis found that she used the hospital’s money to pay her personal taxes, real estate taxes, cell phone bills, car payments, and personal credit accounts.

This case was investigated by Detectives with the Bucks County District Attorney’s Office and the Doylestown Township Police Department and is assigned for prosecution to Deputy District Attorney Marc J. Furber, Chief of Insurance Fraud and Economic Crimes.

Media Contact: Manuel Gamiz Jr., 215.348.6298, mgamiz@buckscounty.org.

Criminal charges are allegations subject to proof in court. Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.