FEDERAL COURT Ex-YOH officials are convicted in scheme

Sentencing is set for June 29, and the trial for two Canfield sisters is pending.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The manager and chief financial officer of the now-closed Youngstown Osteopathic Hospital both have been found guilty in a Medicare fraud scheme.
A jury in U.S. District Court, Cleveland, found Richard B. White, 60, of Louisiana, former YOH manager, guilty of all 14 counts in the indictment handed up Jan. 9, 2003. The counts included conspiracy to defraud the government, Medicare fraud, making false statements, money laundering and wire fraud.
Michael B. Suhadolnik, 47, of Chardon, the hospital's former chief financial officer, was found guilty of the wire fraud scheme only, James C. Lynch, assistant U.S. attorney, said Wednesday.
The fraud amounted to about $2.6 million, the government said.
Sentencing set
U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan set sentencing for June 29. Lynch said White faces up to five years in prison and Suhadolnik up to three years. The judge also will consider restitution to YOH and Medicare, he said.
Lynch said White also faces Medicare fraud charges in South Carolina.
Last October, a co-defendant, Florida attorney Raul Sanchez deVarona, 39, struck a plea agreement with the government and testified as a prosecution witness against White and Suhadolnik. His sentencing is set for Tuesday.
YOH, once located on the city's North Side, closed four years ago.
In January 1996, YOH entered into an agreement with White's Montrose Management, which was to provide financial management consulting services. White set up a network of companies designed to produce profits for the defendants, not YOH. Five clinics in Florida set up by White paid him management fees.
Diverted funds
The government said White and Suhadolnik used Pathways Center for Geriatric Psychiatry, located inside YOH, to defraud Medicare, diverting the funds to the Florida clinics.
Lynch said Youngstown attorney Eugene Fox, former member of the YOH board of trustees, testified that he had requested financial information from White and Suhadolnik in June 1998 but got no answers. Then, in October 1998, Suhadolnik disclosed that money was being sent to the Florida entities rather than paying the hospital for Pathways, Lynch said.
Women face trial
Meanwhile, Canfield sisters Maryann Barnett, 65, of Tippecanoe Road and Patricia Macejko, 60, of Killdeer Drive are charged with conspiracy to defraud the government, Medicare fraud, false statements and money laundering. Their trial is pending.
In 1996, White entered into a management agreement with Ashley Place Nursing Home, owned by Barnett and Macejko.
White incorporated Pathways and gave ownership, in name only, to Barnett and Macejko. He actually controlled all the finances, the government said.
The case was investigated by the office of the inspector general in Cleveland and the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Unit in Youngstown. The case is being prosecuted by Lynch and Richard H. Blake.
meade@vindy.com