Former Williamson mayor pleads guilty to charges for diverting hospital funds for private use

Former Williamson Mayor Charlie Hatfield was CEO of Williamson Memorial Hospital in Mingo County, W.Va., from 2018-2019. He pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds during that time. (Google Maps screenshot)

Former Williamson Mayor Charlie Hatfield pleaded guilty Thursday to federal charges of theft or bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds for actions taken during his time as CEO of Williamson Memorial Hospital.

Hatfield served as the rural hospital’s interim CEO for one year, from September 2018 to 2019. He was first elected as Williamson’s mayor in 2017. According to local media reports, he voluntarily resigned from that position earlier this month in light of the upcoming federal charges and a probe by the FBI.

Will Thompson, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia, said Hatfield’s elected position was “not pertinent” to the case or the charges filed against him this year.

According to court filings, Williamson Memorial Hospital received thousands of dollars in federal funds in both 2018 and 2019 while Hatfield was serving as CEO. In May 2019, Hatfield used more than $9,000 of hospital funds to purchase a cashier’s check, which he then sent to a man in Florida.

That money, Thompson said during a news briefing Thursday, was used to pay off debts relating to a personal lawsuit, real estate taxes and property fees for a condominium owned by Hatfield in Venice, Florida.

In September 2019, Hatfield again directed nearly $26,000 from the hospital’s accounts to Mid Mountain Properties, a real estate firm he has owned and operated since 2001 , according to the Secretary of State’s office.

Nearly a month after that second transfer, on Oct. 21, 2019, the owners of Williamson Memorial Hospital filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Following the bankruptcy filing, the hospital — one of only a few remaining in the rural southern coalfields, where residents already struggled with health care access — issued WARN notices to all employees and quickly began layoffs and the termination of specialty programs. In March of this year, reports indicated that the hospital was beginning work to reopen, but an official announcement of such could not be found.

“What’s really disturbing on this is this transaction occurred just days prior to the hospital filing for bankruptcy and it also occurred at the time when the hospital did not have enough funds to appropriately fund its employee benefit programs, retirement and health care,” Thompson said. “Mr. Hatfield abused a position of trust in diverting funds for personal gain from a hospital that was providing a good resource for the community of Williamson and surrounding areas.”

Hatfield admitted to investigators, according to a news release , that he told his then-business partners about using the hospital funds “to pay a personal obligation.” He also admitted that he never requested authorization from the hospital’s board to direct the funds to his own endeavors.

As noted by Thompson, this is not the first time Hatfield has come against the government regarding his actions as CEO at Williamson Memorial. In 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor took legal action against Hatfield for his failure to forward contributions to the hospital’s self-insured health plan for medical costs incurred by his employees.

That investigation — which covered the period between July 2018 and October 2019 — found that, despite warnings from the plan administrator, Hatfield did not alert employees that a “significant amount” of claims were going unpaid and that the provider was to stop processing claims come November.

“Unaware of the cancellation, employees continued to incur unpaid medical expenses until Dec. 11, 2019, when they were notified of the termination of their health plan,” according to a news release from the federal department.

Hatfield will be sentenced for his most recent charges on Sept. 12. He faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $250,000 fine. He also owes $34,872.62 in restitution for the money taken from Williamson Memorial Hospital.

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