WASHINGTON - Deborah A. Morrison, a former executive at Providence Hospital, was sentenced today to 18 months in prison on a federal charge stemming from her theft of $391,600 from an association of medical professionals, announced U.S. Attorney Jessie K. Liu and Andrew W. Vale, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.
Morrison, 60, of Bethesda, Md., pled guilty in July 2017, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to transportation of money taken by fraud. She was sentenced by the Honorable James E. Boasberg. Following her prison term, Morrison will be placed on three years of supervised release. Judge Boasberg also ordered her to pay $391,600 in restitution and an identical amount in a forfeiture money judgment.
According to a statement of offense submitted as part of the guilty plea, Morrison worked for Providence Hospital from 1978 until 2016, with much of her career in executive positions. Apart from her official work duties, since at least 2001, Morrison oversaw the bank accounts of the Providence Hospital Medical Staff, an association comprised of medical professionals at the facility. In that role, she had access to the checkbooks and reviewed the account statements.
From December 2009 until December 2015, according to the statement of offense, Morrison wrote approximately 140 checks, totaling $391,600, from one of the association’s bank accounts containing dues payments. She endorsed the front of the checks with a signature stamp of a former President of the Medical Staff who no longer worked at Providence Hospital. She deposited all of the checks into her personal bank account.
In announcing the sentence, U.S. Attorney Liu and Assistant Director in Charge Vale commended the work of those who investigated the case from the FBI’s Washington Field Office. They also acknowledged the efforts of those who handled the case from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Kristy Penny, Joshua Fein, and C. Rosalind Pressley. Finally, they expressed appreciation for the work of Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony Saler, who prosecuted the case.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
