The former director of security at a DeKalb County hospital was sentenced to 18 months in prison for fraudulently using hospital funds to buy 93 guns for profit and personal use, according to the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia.
Russell Richardson, 44, of Columbia, South Carolina, will then be under supervised release for an additional three years, U.S. Attorney BJay Pak wrote in a news release Friday.
“Richardson abused his position as the hospital’s Security Director and manipulated the system to acquire firearms for his personal benefit,” Pak said. “He fraudulently caused the hospital to spend money that should have gone towards the purchase of medical necessities, not to line his pockets.”
As the director of security at DeKalb Medical Center, Richardson was permitted to purchase firearms on behalf of the hospital’s security department, according to authorities. The hospital has since been renamed Emory Decatur Hospital.
“Between June 2016 and April 2018, Richardson placed additional orders for approximately 93 firearms and falsely represented to the vendor that the firearms were likewise for the department,” Pak said.
Richardson submitted fraudulent invoices, which listed false descriptions of purchases, and had the hospital mail the payments to the vendor, the release stated.
He then sold most of the firearms for “100% profit,” while holding onto some to use in the gun courses he taught in South Carolina, according to authorities.
Along with his jail time, Richardson is required to pay restitution of more than $83,000, Pak said.
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