Ex-hospital employee sentenced to 33 months

By Lilly Adkins

BSN Associate Editor

LOUISA — A former employee of Three Rivers Medical Center who pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud was formally sentenced June 13 to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay restitution.

Lashea Nicole Hudnall was ordered to pay the $781,699.82 in restitution in one lump sum and is due immediately, according to U.S. District Court records.

Hudnall was charged with theft by unlawful taking over $10,000 but under $1 million and entered a guilty plea in March to wire fraud.

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, her 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. Hudnall used her position 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 plea agreement said.

As director of materials management, Hudnall was in a position to order supplies on behalf of the medical center, the agreement says.

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

Hudnall 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 plea agreement said. Nor did she inform online purchasers the materials being sold were stolen, the 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. 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.”