Nursing Home Financial Assistant Sentenced to Eight Years
Kathryn Dupree was living the high life on other people's money. The 36 year-old former financial assistant at Wells Nursing Home in MacClenny, Florida was sentenced to eight years in prison for her role in the theft of nearly $200,000 from patient accounts at the facility. Once her prison sentence is completed, she faces twenty-two years probation. Two of those years will be spent at a restitution center in Jacksonville, Florida, where her earnings will be garnished to begin repayment of the money she stole.
Between June 20, 2007 and February 2008, Ms. Dupree wrote checks to herself for amounts ranging between $300 to $17,000 and forged the signatures of several supervisors. Ms. Dupree's activities were discovered when a financial officer for Baker County Medical Services (BCMS), the managing arm of the nursing home, tried to confirm the balance of a patient's account for a family member. When the financial officer looked up the account, she discovered that it was closed and there was a check written against it to Ms. Dupree. When BCMS investigated further, they determined that Ms. Dupree's scam went even deeper and affected many patients.
DIFFERENT LIFESTYLE
Around the time Ms. Dupree began her scam, her lifestyle changed dramatically for an individual earning only $22,000 per year. Property seized from her residence included a tanning bed, a hot tub, three four-wheelers and a trailer, a storage shed, gas grill, matching washer and dryer, office equipment, DVD players, Gameboys, and a flat screen television. Investigators were able to determine that many of the items were paid for with cash. Ms. Dupree had also entered into negotiations to begin construction on a $300,000 home and was looking to purchase a new car. She had also purchased a bulldog and an exotic monkey for approximately $3000 each and had purchased a custom two story cage for the animals. The monkey required special milk for feeding and even had its own wardrobe. She told fellow employees that she had purchased the monkey to breed and sell the offspring because she could make a great deal of money. The monkey has since died.
