A former employee who funneled millions of dollars from the Virginia Department of Health into a fake business account pled guilty Thursday to the scheme.
Adam Lamar Harrell, 41, of Midlothian, faced charges including mail fraud, federal program theft and tax evasion. In total, Harrell received $4,337,395 in funds obtained illegally.
Harrell is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 20. As part of a plea deal, he faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison.
According to court documents, Harrell was an employee of VDH since 2013. In 2019, he became the associate director of the Office of Emergency Medical Services for VDH.
In this role, he was responsible for managing Virginia’s emergency response programs, epidemiology research and the information technology systems that Virginia’s emergency medical service providers rely on, among other responsibilities.
Harrell used his position to direct payments from VDH to a company he registered and controlled, Strategic Tech Innovations, LLC.
Harrell concealed his ownership of and affiliation with Strategic Tech from VDH and OEMS and used this entity to embezzle funds from his employer through two separate means.
From January 2021 through May 2023, Harrell created 15 fraudulent invoices for services and technology that Strategic Tech would purportedly provide to OEMS. Harrell set exorbitant and non-market prices for the various line items on the invoices knowing the majority of the items would not be provided by Strategic Tech.
Harrell would submit these fraudulent invoices to the Western Virginia EMS Council, a regional emergency medical services council that serves as a pass-through for OEMS payments to vendors. Each of these invoices were paid by WVEMS with OEMS funds.
By directing the invoices to WVEMS instead of accounts payable at OEMS, Harrell circumvented the requirement that Strategic Tech be approved as a vendor to VDH and OEMS and evaded scrutiny by the accounts payable department.
As the associate director of OEMS, Harrell was able to approve the same fraudulent Strategic Tech invoices he drafted.
Harrell deposited each of the checks he received from WVEMS into the Strategic Tech checking account he controlled and used the funds for personal expenses, including the purchase of real estate, luxury vehicles, dozens of firearms and jewelry.
On March 9, 2021, Harrell filed a joint federal income tax return where he reported being the sole proprietor of Strategic Tech and reported $193,076 in gross receipts. He falsely reported expenses for Strategic Tech of $200,340, for a net loss of $7,264, lowering his taxable income and generating a refund of $934.
Harrell did not report any income from Strategic Tech on the federal income tax returns he filed for tax years 2021, 2022 and 2023.
From November 2020 through March 2024, Harrell evaded a total of $1,880,287.34 in income taxes.
The Virginia State Police and the Office of the State Inspector General provided significant assistance in the investigation of this case.