Former hospital clerk gets 2 years in prison for $500K theft

BUFFALO – A former Medina Memorial Hospital payroll clerk was sentenced to two years in state prison this morning and ordered to pay back nearly $500,000 she stole from the hospital.

Linda Rakonczay, 58, of Middleport, pleaded guilty to wire fraud and filing false tax returns in January when she appeared before Chief U.S. District Judge William M. Skretny.

This morning she was given a prison sentence and ordered to pay $93,999 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service and $499,563 in restitution to Orleans Community Health, the hospital’s parent organization.

Rakonczay worked as a payroll coordinator for Orleans Community Health in Medina. Beginning in 2001 and continuing through 2012, Rakonczay prepared and submitted reports to the organization’s bank instructing the bank to electronically transfer money from the corporate bank account to her personal bank account, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

The amount transferred from the organization’s bank account to the defendant’s account totaled $499,563.00. For tax years 2007 through 2012, Rakonczay failed to report such income and failed to pay federal taxes to the Internal Revenue Service totaling nearly $94,000.

The conviction is the result of an investigation on the part of Special Agents of Federal Bureau of Investigation under the direction of Special Agent-In-Charge Brian P. Boetig and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations Division, under the direction of Toni M. Weirauch, Special Agent in Charge.