A federal grand jury recently indicted a man who was once the Assistant Controller for the Grady Memorial Hospital Corporation for embezzlement.

Donald Thomas allegedly embezzled roughly $450,000 in public funds from Grady Memorial Hospital. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the investigation of Thomas began after it received information that he was abusing his position and using public funds for his own purposes. Thomas was employed at Grady Memorial Hospital as Assistant Controller from 1994 to 2011. Grady is the largest hospital in Georgia and it relies heavily on funding from both the state and federal governments.

Thomas allegedly used his position to gain access to Grady’s payroll system and generate additional compensation, including fake vacation and sick time, for Grady employees that had been terminated. He then changed payroll records so that the additional funds were deposited into his own accounts. In addition, Thomas also allegedly used his payroll access to produce paper checks made out to terminated employees. He forged their signatures to deposit the checks into his own bank accounts. Overall, Thomas’s scheme netted him approximately $450,000 in stolen funds.

More than anything else, Thomas’ case demonstrates that federal authorities are serious about finding and stopping instances of embezzlement and fraud. He is currently out on bond, but the FBI continues to investigate his case. Thomas faces charges for embezzlement, as well as bank and wire fraud. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison and fines of up to $1,000,000.

Source: MyFoxAtlanta.com, “Former Grady worker stole more than $450K from hospital,” June 27, 2013