Practice Assistant Charged with Embezzling Over $1,000,000 from Boston Hospital

BOSTON, MA—A Boston man was charged today in federal court with embezzling over $1,000,000 from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division; and Police Commissioner Edward Davis of the Boston Police Department announced today that RICHARD P. WEBB, age 42, of Boston, was charged in an Information with one count of health care theft and embezzlement.

According to the Information, WEBB worked at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, a teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School in Boston, as a practice assistant in the Ear, Nose, and Throat Department. The Information alleges that from January 2006 through April 2009, WEBB took approximately $1,054,712 by stealing checks others had written to the department for services and goods, and also by obtaining fraudulent refunds for hearing aids and other items. To carry out the scheme, WEBB allegedly forged signatures and deposited stolen funds into bank accounts that he controlled.

If convicted on these charges, WEBB faces up to 10 years of imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, restitution, forfeiture of approximately $1,054,712, and a fine of over $2.1 million.

In an agreement filed separately in court, WEBB agreed to waive indictment and plead guilty to the charge.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Boston Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott L. Garland of Ortiz's Computer Crimes Unit.

The details contained in the Information are allegations. The defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law or the court accepts the defendant’s guilty plea.