PORTLAND, Maine (AP) A former emergency preparedness director at Maine Medical Center pleaded guilty to fraud charges for misrepresenting a group he led to obtain two boats and other equipment from a Department of Defense program.
Joshua Cory Frances, 44, pleaded guilty Wednesday to federal program fraud and wire fraud in the U.S. District Court of Maine, the Portland Press Herald reported.
Frances admitted to portraying a group he led, Maine Task Force One, which provided emergency medical services at events, as a law enforcement agency when it was not.
As part of a plea bargain, Frances agreed not to appeal a sentence of less than two years and agreed to a statement of facts. Four other charges against him were dropped. The penalties for the charges he pleaded guilty to carry maximum sentences of 10 and 20 years along with the potential for large fines.
Frances admitted to using a government email address to repeatedly represent himself as an employee of the Department for Homeland Security, the newspaper reported.
In 2015, he used that email address to enroll the medical aid group in a federal program that transfers excess equipment from the Department of Defense to law enforcement agencies.
Through the program, he obtained a 44-foot sailboat named Courageous and a 27-foot Boston Whaler as well as two outboard motors. Frances used $14,000 in funds from the Maine Medical Center to transport the sailboat from California to Maine and in 2017, he advertised lodging on the sailboat for $225 a night.
“Josh made some mistakes here with obtaining equipment and he owned that with his plea today,” defense attorney Walt McKee wrote in an email to the newspaper. “When we finally get to sentencing, I think you will see that at the end of the day he was a solid leader of Maine Task Force 1 and his heart was always in the right place.”
Frances was fired in 2016 from Maine Medical Center for unauthorized purchases and other dishonest and unprofessional conduct, the newspaper reported.
A spokesperson for the health care organization, Clay Holtzman, told the newspaper: “Maine Medical Center is pleased to see that the case against Josh Frances is moving toward a conclusion and that he has accepted responsibility for his actions. We are hopeful to secure future restitution for MMC losses.”
