News Release
01/10/2002
Pierce Pleads Guilty in Ghost Employee Case
A former Oklahoma Department of Health employee accused of obtaining state funds for work not performed received suspended prison sentences and was ordered to pay more than $22,000 in restitution to the state after pleading guilty yesterday to 11 felony counts, according to Attorney General Drew Edmondson.
Frederick Joe Pierce, 41, of Talihina, was indicted in November 2000 by the state’s multicounty grand jury for accepting $22,359.82 in state funds for work he did not perform.
Pierce, falsely "representing that he was providing the services of a full time Oklahoma State Department of Health employee," accepted 11 state paychecks between July 1999 and May 2000. All but one of the checks was for $2,026. The September 1999 check was for $2,099.82.
Oklahoma County Special District Judge Carol Hubbard received Pierce’s plea and pronounced his sentence today in Oklahoma County District Court. In addition to being ordered to pay $22,359.82 in restitution, Pierce received 11, one-year suspended prison sentences to be served concurrently.
Pierce has also agreed to cooperate with the state prosecution on remaining health department cases.
Pierce was originally hired by the department on July 1, 1999 as a regional health consultant under a federal rural health grant. However, he did not perform the tasks for which he was employed.
Upcoming is the Jan. 28th jury trial for former Oklahoma Department of Health employee and state Senator James Edwin Lane. Lane faces trial on 74 felony counts of illegally obtaining more than $210,000 in state funds.
Lane, 66, is accused of accepting $168,386.70 in state salary and longevity pay for work he did not perform. He is also accused of unlawfully claiming and receiving $41,900.57 in state travel reimbursement funds.
He was indicted on the same counts by the state’s multicounty grand jury last January, and was bound over for trial in September. Lane remains free on a $10,000 bond.
Lane was originally hired by the department as an environmental health consultant in 1990 and resigned from the department in May 2000.