Image Credit: James H. Quillen VA Medical Center (Mountain Home, TN) / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative [By Paula Gomes] –
Twin sisters, both formerly employed at an East Tennessee Veterans Affairs medical center, have been sentenced for their parts in a bribery scheme that defrauded the federal government of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
On Wednesday, Monika D. Schorer and Teresa D. Schorer, both 59-years-old, were sentenced in Greeneville’s U.S. District Court to eight months in prison, which will be followed by three years of supervised release after they get out.
The pair, who worked at the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center, will also be required to pay over $213,000 in restitution and were fined $10,000.
Both women were facing up to two decades of incarceration before the sisters each pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud as part of a plea agreement.
The Schorers were accused of taking cash bribes from surgical sales reps Eric S. Smith and Landon Chester in 2018 – one in the amount of $9,900 and another for $7,000 – in exchange for their help in setting up Smith and Chester’s shady VA Vendor “Four Corners Medical Supply and Equipment LLC.”
The Department of Justice reported that the women knowingly allowed the VA to purchase inventory from Four Corners both at inflated prices and when it was not medically necessary.
The women used a VA computer to set up Four Corners into the payment system, made false disclosures on federal ethics forms to conceal what they had done, alerted Smith and Chester when their supervisor grew suspicious, and assisted Four Corners in ways that are not standard operating procedure. The Schorers had also been promised an ownership interest in the limited liability company.
Smith has already been sentenced to a year in prison and was required to pay over $120,000 in restitution. During the investigation, conducted by the Department of Veterans Affairs and other agencies, $185,422 was seized which Smith agreed to forfeit. Chester has a hearing on August 5th for his sentencing.
The federal government will recover more than $852,000 due to forfeited bank accounts and pleas agreements.
Last December, we reported that VA employees at the same medical center confessed to having sex on the grounds amid a probe into allegations that officials took part in an orgy.
During a congressional investigation, it was found that at least twelve officials who once worked at the facility took part in an orgy, and one man (a bargaining unit biomedical employee who has since resigned) bragged about having had sex with thirty-two different co-workers. At least two employees admitted to having sex at work.
The man and several women talked openly and unashamedly about their sordid rendezvous on an official VA online group forum used to communicate about facility operations and other official governmental business.
As a result of the investigation, several VA officials, including the biomedical staffer and Mountain Home facility director Dean Borsos, resigned.
About the Author: Paula Gomes is a Tennessee resident and reporter for The Tennessee Conservative. You can reach Paula at paula@tennesseeconservativenews.com.
