Ohio Man Pleads Guilty To Defrauding Bradenton Medical Practice

Tampa, FL – United States Attorney A. Lee Bentley, III announces that David Brooks (44, Ohio) has pleaded guilty to mail fraud.  He faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison.

According to the plea agreement, in October 2011, Brooks was hired as the Financial Accounting Manager at Coastal Orthopedics and Sports Medicine of Southwest Florida (Coastal), located in Bradenton. While working for Coastal, Brooks was convicted of theft, money laundering, and other fraud-related offenses in Ohio.  In June 2013, after discovering this information, Coastal fired Brooks and commenced a review of its books and records.

Between January 2012 and June 19, 2013, Coastal found that Brooks had used company accounts to purchase more than $700,000 in American Express gift cards that he then used for personal expenses, including legal fees associated with his Ohio criminal case.  He also had diverted payroll funds to himself above his normal salary.  Brooks had altered the company’s books and records to cover up his actions.

In one instance, Brooks used ten different gift cards, paid for with Coastal’s funds, to purchase a 2012 Jeep Liberty.  The gift cards were shipped to Brooks at Coastal on March 15, 2012, and four days later he used them to purchase the vehicle.

In total, Brooks used $702,091.60 of Coastal’s funds to purchase the gift cards for his own use.  Together with the funds he diverted to pay himself over and above his salary, he defrauded the company out of approximately $858,883.

This case was investigated by the United States Secret Service and the Bradenton Police Department. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Mandy Riedel.