A former facilities manager for a Sharon-based healthcare nonprofit has been sentenced to two and a half years in prison, followed by one year of supervised release for conspiring to commit wire fraud and money laundering plus filing a false tax return.
Mark Marriott, of Sharpsville, stood before a federal court in Pittsburgh Friday, where he had previously pled guilty to the charges.
The hearing is the latest development in a long-running investigation into the Primary Health Network, a nonprofit that provides medical services to underserved populations.
Prosecutors said Marriott, 59, and other executives used their positions to divert hundreds of thousands of dollars from the organization through sham contracts and kickbacks between 2015 and 2020.
Pull Quote
“The FBI and our partners will continue to uncover and prosecute those who think they can hide calculated fraud schemes under the guise of contracts, middlemen, and paperwork.”
FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec
The indictment identified Marriott as PHN’s former facilities administrator, supervising projects, including maintenance of existing facilities and building new PHN facilities. His duties included hiring contractors.
The indictment alleged that Marriott created phony invoices from a shell company he co-owned for work and services the company never provided to PHN.
According to court documents, Marriott also helped coordinate a kickback arrangement where a vendor inflated bids and returned a portion of the payments to Marriott and former CEO Drew Pierce.
The nonprofit’s funds were used to pay for personal expenses and labor at the private homes of the executives, according to investigators.
In April, Pierce was sentenced to nearly three and a half years in prison.
“This prosecution reflects the unfortunate reality of executives abusing their positions of power to commit fraud on a non-profit organization,” U.S. Attorney Troy Rivetti said in a Friday release.
The FBI agents handling the PHN fraud scheme said it resulted in years of deception and millions of dollars stolen.
“These crimes are not victimless, and this was not a mistake or a lapse in judgment,” FBI Pittsburgh Special Agent in Charge Richard Evanchec stated in a release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office. “The FBI and our partners will continue to uncover and prosecute those who think they can hide calculated fraud schemes under the guise of contracts, middlemen, and paperwork.”
RELATED COVERAGE: