SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) - A Massachusetts man contracted by several U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities to inspect medical gas systems pleaded guilty Thursday to billing for inspections that neither he nor his company performed, federal prosecutors said.
Chester Wojcik, 49, of Agawam, went so far as to create false invoices and reports for inspections that never took place, according to the U.S. attorney’s office in Boston.
Medical gas supply systems deliver compressed air, oxygen, nitrous oxide, nitrogen and carbon dioxide to operating rooms, recovery rooms and patient rooms and must be inspected and maintained regularly to ensure the safety of patients and medical professionals, authorities said.
Wojcik, the owner of Alliance Medical Gas Corp., failed to perform inspections of gas systems at VA facilities in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Tuskegee, Alabama; and Montgomery, Alabama, in 2014 and 2015, federal prosecutors said. He was paid almost $9,000 for services his company did not perform.
Wojcik pleaded guilty to wire fraud. He faces up to 20 years in prison at sentencing scheduled for Nov. 19.
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