Va. Rescue Squad to Sell Rig to Pay Legal Fees
July 28--ABINGDON, Va. -- The Saltville Rescue Squad wants to sell off part of its vehicle fleet to cover ever-increasing legal fees, federal court records show.
For months, the squad has operated under a tight budget to field emergency calls while also fighting charges of health-care fraud.
Now, it's banking on one of its trucks, a 2008 Ford E 450, to fetch $50,000 "for purposes of hiring consultants, investigators, and paying attorney fees in this case," states a motion filed Thursday in Abingdon's U.S. District Court.
Though the Bristol Herald Courier could not determine if the truck is an emergency vehicle, one of the manufacturer's Internet sites, Ford Fleet, shows that the model can be converted into an ambulance.
Still, the squad's court motion states that the truck "is not used as a primary transporter."
Federal prosecutors have until Aug. 10 to respond, court records show.
So far in the case, squad member Monica Jane Hicks has already pleaded guilty to a single charge of health care fraud. During her plea, prosecutors said she falsified documents at the urging of former squad President Eddie Wayne Louthian Sr.
She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for her plea agreement.
Prosecutors said that Hicks, of Meadowview, and Louthian fraudulently billed insurance companies $2.65 million from December 2010 through September 2011. Louthian and the squad face charges relating to health care and bank fraud. He could serve 60 years in prison if found guilty of all charges and the squad could lose a hefty sum of money.
Louthian and the squad have a two-week jury trial set for mid-September.
The squad's earlier attempts to secure loans have failed, court records show, because banks fear for the volunteer group's future.
In fact, a handful of rejected applications were the reason a federal judge in April allowed the squad to withdraw a total of $20,000 from its federal frozen account for legal fees.
When the case began in January, federal prosecutors filed criminal charges against the squad as a corporation to force the forfeiture of $800,000 thought to have been involved in alleged health-care fraud.
At the time, prosecutors approved the withdrawal of only $10,000 for operating expenses and later agreed it could be used to hire a lawyer. That's why the squad asked a judge to double that amount in April.
To continue running emergency calls, the squad is allowed to spend what it makes from donations and billed services. For example, court documents show the squad took in $33,051 in early March and spent it on such necessities as first-aid supplies, fuel and payroll.
The rest of the money still remains off limits, however, forcing the squad to find other streams of revenue to cover court costs.
While the 2008 Ford truck is not under the federal freeze, court records show any sales proceeds would go into the bank account and the squad would need permission to retrieve it.
mowens@bristolnews.com
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