Ex-hospital employee enters guilty plea

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

LOUISA — A former employee of Three Rivers Medical Center who was indicted in December 2019 in Lawrence County om theft charges entered a plea agreement in federal court on March 1.

Lashea Nicole Hudnall was charged in the indictment with theft by unlawful taking over $10,000 but under $1 million.

Hudnall entered a guilty plea to count 1 of the information charging a violation of 18 U.S.C. 1343, wire fraud.

According to the plea agreement, Hudnall devised a scheme to defraud or to obtain money or property by materially false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises; acted with intent to defraud and in carrying out the scheme, transmitted any writing, signal, or sound by means of a wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce or caused the transmission of any writing, signal, or sound of some kind by means of a wire, radio, or television communication in interstate or foreign commerce, the plea agreement said.

Hudall admitted in the plea agreement that she was employed as the director of materials management at Three Rivers Medical Center in Louisa from Jan. 1, 2014 to Aug. 26, 2019, and that knowingly devised and intended to devise a scheme and artifice to defraud and obtain money and property by means of material false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises.

Hudnall used her position at Three Rivers Medical Center to steal medical supplies from the hospital, including harmonic scalpels and shears, and scalpel and shear cords, the plea agreement said. In addition, Hudnall stole hospital office supplies, including colored ink printer cartridges, the agreement said.

Hudnall, using online e-commerce platforms such as eBay and Mercari, claimed she had legitimate possession of the items and resold the stolen medical and hospital office supplies to buyers in the United States and China, the plea agreement said.

Hudnall, deliberately, did not seek authorization from the medical center to resell the supplies for her own financial gain or inform the medical center when re-ordering supplies on behalf of the hospital, the agreement said, nor did she inform online purchasers the materials being sold were stolen, the plea agreement said.

Hudnall “received the proceeds for many of these sales of stolen property through an account with PayPal Inc., such financial transactions constituting interstate and foreign wires, which were then deposited in her accounts at financial institutions in Kentucky and West Virginia,” the plea agreement said.

“Between Jan. 1, 2014 and Aug. 26, 2019, Hudnall stole and re-sold at least $781,699 in medical and hospital office supplies from Three Rivers Medical Center,” the agreement says. “On or about April 29, 2019, in furtherance of the scheme, Hudnall received a payment of $1,200 via foreign wire to her PayPal account from a buyer in China who was purchasing medical supplies stolen by the defendant.”

Prosecutors will recommend releasing Hudnall on bond for future court appearances if she doesn’t violate the terms of the order setting conditions of release, the agreement says.

Hudnall will forfeit to the federal government all interest in the property listed in the forfeiture allegation of the indictment and will execute any documents necessary for the forfeiture, the plea agreement said.

Hudnall also agrees to the imposition of money judgment in the amount of $781,699, which represents proceeds obtained by her as a result of the offense, the plea agreement said.