A former chief financial officer who pleaded guilty to bilking about $200,000 from hospitals in Ohio and Connecticut was sentenced Monday to a maximum 33 months in a federal prison, three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay restitution, the Department of Justice said.
William Roe, 55, had been the CFO at St. Rita's Hospital in Lima, OH, from 2006-2009, and the CFO of Danbury Hospital in Danbury CT from 2009-2010.
From 2008-2010, Roe used a company he'd created called Cycle Software Solutions to defraud both St. Rita's Hospital and Danbury Hospital by billing them for $75,000 and $95,000, respectively, for nonexistent software and services. Roe also billed Danbury Hospital for another $25,000, but that payment was stopped, DOJ said.
On Jan. 4 Roe pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud.
On Monday, U.S. District Judge Vanessa L. Bryant ordered Roe to pay restitution of $75,000 to St. Rita's Hospital, and $141,166 to Danbury Hospital. The Danbury Hospital restitution figure includes an additional $46,166 that Roe improperly received, DOJ said.
Roe was arrested on Aug. 17, 2010, and had worked as an adult day care aide for Goodwill Industries after he was released on bond.
That bond was revoked in March when Roe violated the terms of his release and used the Internet. Prosecutors said Roe sent his probation officer an email using his wife's email account, and under his wife's name.
In a six-page, single-spaced letter filed with the court, Roe asked Bryant for leniency, and said he came before her "a broken man." He blamed his downfall on a convergence of problems at work, personal family substance abuse and other domestic issues, financial strains, and an extra-marital affair.
"I have been financially devastated by my crime. I have ruined my reputation in an industry that I loved and was good at," Roe said in his letter. "I ask that you be lenient with me and let me return to society as soon as possible. I want to be a productive member of society. I want to see my grandchildren grow up. I know I have a financial penalty as well and want to begin repaying that as soon as possible. I would never consider doing anything remotely like this again."
However, David B. Fein, the U.S. Attorney for Connecticut, said in the government's sentencing memo that Roe created a convincing façade to mask his criminal conduct. "To be sure, at least one person has described Roe as a 'very generous man who would do anything for anyone,' and Roe himself states that his conduct was 'totally out of character' for him. But it is precisely this facade of a good and generous character that allowed Roe to get away with his criminal actions for two years," Fein said.
The prosecutor noted that Roe had complained that he was underpaid, even though he owned two houses and earned more than $500,000 in 2009 at the height of the scam.
"Plainly Roe's moral compass was askew, and his conduct in stealing money not for need, but for what can only be interpreted as sport is deserving of a sentence at or near the top of the agreed-upon guidelines range," Fein wrote in the memo.
Bryant apparently agreed, and sentenced Roe to the maximum 33-month prison term under the guidelines.
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John Commins is a content specialist and online news editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.