Worker Accused Of Stealing Millions From NYC Hospital

NEW YORK (AP) -- A former Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center worker embezzled more than $1 million from the renowned cancer hospital by ordering computer printer toner and stealing it, prosecutors said.

Receiving clerk Marque Gumbs ordered $1.2 million worth of unneeded toner on the hospital's tab between October 2009 and this August, sometimes buying toner that wasn't even compatible with the computers at the outpatient center where he worked, a court complaint says.

He had delivery drivers meet him on the street to hand over the supplies, and he was seen on surveillance video taking the shipments to an area where they didn't belong, the complaint said.

Gumbs' lawyer didn't immediately return a telephone call Thursday evening. Gumbs, 32, was being held on $100,000 bail after his arraignment Wednesday on a grand larceny charge.

Prosecutors haven't detailed what they think Gumbs did with the supplies. The Wall Street Journal, which first reported the story, said authorities believe he sold the toner elsewhere.

The $37,000-a-year clerk piled nearly $150,000 of extra cash into his bank account from April 2008 to this September, and he put a $50,500 cash down payment on a BMW in May, the complaint said.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering representatives didn't immediately respond to after-hours messages Thursday, but a spokeswoman told the Journal that Gumbs' employment had been terminated. He began working at the hospital in 1999.

Memorial Sloan-Kettering, which traces its history to 1884, is one of the world's oldest and biggest cancer centers. More than 23,000 patients were admitted to its hospital last year, and its outpatient offices logged more than 500,000 visits.

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