LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - The former executive director of University of Louisville’s Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine is accused of stealing $2.8 million in patient payments and other funds over a six-year period.
The Courier-Journal reports (https://cjky.it/1pV27kO) 36-year-old Perry Chadwick Vaughn was indicted by a federal grand jury in Louisville on Wednesday. He also is accused of failing to report $2.4 million in income and laundering money through high-ticket purchases that included a $9,000 necklace.
Vaughn, who lives in Sellersburg, Ind., has pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, he faces up to 55 years in prison and a maximum fine of $1.25 million. His lawyer, Rob Eggert, could not be reached for comment.
Investigators say the theft began in 2007, but it wasn’t until October 2012 that a co-worker emailed University of Louisville auditors questioning how Vaughn could live as extravagantly as he did on a $105,000 annual salary as administrator of the family medicine department and manager of the affiliated private practice groups.
Documents show Vaughn wore expensive clothes, flew his family to the Caribbean and drove a fleet of cars including two Mercedes-Benzes, a Range Rover, a Corvette and an Infiniti.
On Aug. 30, federal prosecutors obtained a temporary injunction against Vaughn, preventing him from spending any funds in several accounts linked to his work at the university. That came after an Internal Revenue Service investigator found Vaughn had cut at least 25 checks to himself in 2012 and 2013.
IRS Investigator Robert Masterson has said that Vaughn admitted in an interview that he diverted checks issued to the Department of Family and Geriatric Medicine to accounts he controlled for the department’s affiliated practices. He then issued checks to himself from those accounts.
Vaughn was fired in September.
The Courier-Journal reported at the time that Vaughn was one of at least six university employees accused during the previous five years of stealing the school’s money or grant funds under its control.
Vaughn is free on a $25,000 bond. A trial date is scheduled for June 3.
___
Information from: The Courier-Journal, https://www.courier-journal.com
Please read our comment policy before commenting.