PANAMA CITY, Fla. (WTXL) - A former hospital CEO has been charged with wire and tax fraud after being accused of stealing more than $1 million from the Calhoun-Liberty Hospital for his own personal uses.
Phillip Hill Jr., 42, of Blountstown, Fla., was arraigned Wednesday in the U.S. District Court in Panama City after a grand jury charged him with wire and tax fraud.
The indictment says that, between 2010 and 2015, Hill used his positions as Chief Executive Officer and department head of Emergency Management Services to steal money from Calhoun-Liberty Hospital in Blountstown.
According to the indictment, Hill billed the hospital for goods it never received and did so using invoices in the name of “Southeastern Medical Supply,” a fake business connected to a bank account controlled by Hill.
It is alleged that Hill ordered medical supplies from eBay and other vendors and billed the hospital for these supplies at a much more expensive price than what he paid for them.
The document says Hill used the funds in the hospital's bank account to pay personal credit card bills, to fund a business he owned and operated, to obtain cash, and to pay personal expenses, including grocery and travel expenses.
It also states that when a hospital employee asked Hill for contact information for Southeastern, Hill stated that he did not have the phone number because he had lost his phone, and said that the last time he had “talked with” representatives of Southeastern, they were “talking about going out of business.”
Court documents allege Hill, Jr. stole more than $1.1 million from the hospital between March 5, 2010 and August 5, 2015.
The maximum penalty for each wire fraud count is 20 years in prison. The maximum penalty for each count of filing false tax returns is three years in prison.
The trial is scheduled for July 2, at the United States Courthouse in Panama City.
