Federal Judge Mulls Employment of Va. Rescue Squad Member Under Investigation
ABINGDON, Va. -- A federal judge is mulling whether the head of the Saltville Rescue Squad can work there while a health-care fraud case continues.
A protective order enacted when the case began banned squad Business Manager and President Eddie Wayne Louthian Sr. from dealing with the volunteer group's money matters.
The squad, Louthian, of Chilhowie, and squad member Monica Jane Hicks, of Meadowview, are accused of sending $2.6 million worth of fraudulent billing slips to insurance companies from December 2010 until September 2011. A two-week trial is set to begin Sept. 10.
During Louthian's February arraignment, U.S. District Court Judge Pamela Meade Sargent commented that he might not be able to collect a squad paycheck anymore.
Immediately after that hearing, the squad's board of directors voted to keep him as an employee and switch his title from president to coordinator, court records show.
On Thursday, Sargent said she would issue an opinion on his employment status soon.
"I'm hesitant ... to allow Mr. Louthian to go back into any management role with the rescue squad," she said.
The board's vote for a title change is one reason Assistant U.S. District Attorney Janine Myatt voiced distrust for Louthian.
He "has a history of doing what he pleases and not what's right for the Saltville Rescue Squad, what's right for the community, and what's right for a non-profit organization," she said.
The case prosecutor pointed to financial documents the squad presented in April, when it sought to use money from its federally frozen account to hire a lawyer.
Those records showed the squad's profits and losses, but failed to openly disclose that Louthian still collected a paycheck. He was the person who printed out the documents to use in court, Myatt argued.
"I think his behavior is deceptive," she said. "I don't know if he and the Saltville Rescue Squad are colluding to that effect."
Louthian's attorney, Irvine, Calif.-based Michael J. Khouri, said it was a computer finance program, and not his client, that picked the numbers to print on the ledger.
Working with the squad is his client's best chance for a secure income, Khouri said. The attorney also asked that Louthian be allowed to sell land that is under a federal protection order.
"It's property that he purchased (10 years ago) as the result of a divorce," Khouri said. "This piece of property has nothing to do with the fraud alleged."
Louthian owns the private Trinity Ambulance Service based in Marion, but all its profits covers business expenses and is not a money-maker, the defense attorney added.
Sargent, before calling a recess, wondered aloud whether Louthian could be banned from working as a squad paramedic.
"The court basically has to allow for him to provide for himself somehow, do I not?" she asked.
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Copyright 2012 - Bristol Herald Courier, Va.
