MONROE, La. (AP) — A former financial executive at a Louisiana hospital has been sentenced to two years in prison on federal wire fraud charges, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Chief U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty handed down the sentence on Friday against Edward Calloway, 44, of West Monroe, U.S. Attorney Brandon B. Brown for the Western District of Louisiana said in a statement.
Court documents show Calloway served as the financial director for Ouachita Parish Hospital Service District’s G.B. Cooley Hospital from 2016 until October 2019. Before that, he was a first staff accountant at the facility from 2010 until 2016, authorities said.
Beginning in 2012, Calloway began stealing from Cooley Hospital, which provides specialized care for mental and physical issues, by transferring money form the hospital’s general fund, sinking fund and payroll accounts to his personal accounts at Richland State Bank and Louisiana Capitol Federal Credit Union, according to the statement. Calloway used a computer to initiate bank transfers that resulted in a total loss of $892,602, evidence showed.
Calloway pleaded guilty in the case in December 2022.
“Mr. Calloway had a fiduciary duty as Financial Director to oversee these state and federal funds in a prudent fashion to the benefit of Cooley’s residents and clients, not himself,” Brown said. “Instead, he took advantage of these individuals by stealing this money for his personal gain and has now been held accountable.”
