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United States Attorney Joseph P. Russoniello announced this morning that Richard Lynn Wheat, the former Chief Financial Officer of Southern Monterey County Memorial Hospital, pleaded guilty yesterday afternoon to an Information charging him with wire fraud. In the Plea Agreement, Mr. Wheat, 52, admitted that he used his position as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of the Southern Monterey County Memorial Hospital (known as the George L. Mee Memorial Hospital), to cause the hospital to pay between $30,000 and $60,000 in personal expenses.
In pleading guilty to the Information filed on August 27, 2007, Mr. Wheat admitted that he served as the hospital’s Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”) from July 26, 1999 until January 27, 2004, and that beginning no later than November 28, 2002 and continuing until he was placed on administrative leave on January 12, 2004, Wheat fraudulently caused the hospital to pay for at least $30,000 in personal expenses he had charged to his personal credit card. Wheat acknowledged that he used his position as the hospital’s CFO to set up an automatic electronic payment from the hospital’s bank account to his personal account. As a result, Wheat admitted that the hospital paid for such personal expenses as his personal travel, hotels and entertainment, restaurants and fast food, groceries, office supplies for home use, automobile parts, gas, stamps, and hardware.
The maximum statutory penalty wire fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1343, is twenty years in prison and a fine of $1,000,000, plus restitution. However, any sentence following conviction would be imposed by the court after consideration of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and the federal statute governing the imposition of a sentence, 18 U.S.C. § 3553. Mr. Wheat is scheduled to be sentenced on September 29, 2008.
The prosecution is the result of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. David Callaway is the Assistant United States Attorney who is prosecuting the case with the assistance of Legal Assistant Tracey Andersen.
Further Information:
Case #: CR 07-00558 JW
A copy of this press release may be found on the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s website at www.usdoj.gov/usao/can.
Electronic court filings and further procedural and docket information are available at https://ecf.cand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
Judges’ calendars with schedules for upcoming court hearings can be viewed on the court’s website at www.cand.uscourts.gov.
All press inquiries to the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be directed to Joshua Eaton at (415) 436-6958 or by email at Josh.Eaton@usdoj.gov.
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