Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 8, 1990 TAG: 9005080369
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Judge James Turk fined Dr. Robert F. Baxter of Vansant $75,000 and Dr. Bradley D. Berry of Grundy $50,000 and ordered both men to pay any back taxes they owed. Berry also will have to pay one-third of the $16,800 cost of the prosecution and Baxter the other two-thirds.
The doctors, who were part-owners of the defunct Grundy Hospital, also were given three-year probation terms. In addition, Baxter was ordered to perform 400 hours of community service.
Nancy Baxter, convicted with her husband of tax evasion, was fined $25,000 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.
Berry and the Baxters were charged in March 1989 in a six-count indictment with evading payment of income taxes for the years 1982 and 1983. The two doctors also were indicted on a charge of conspiring to evade taxes.
In December, a jury convicted them of all charges. During the trial, defense attorneys tried to focus blame on Billy Mills, a former Buchanan County supervisor who was administrator of the hospital operated by Baxter, Berry and two other doctors until it was sold in 1985. An audit carried out before the sale showed the four doctors owed the hospital about $1 million, although subsequent audits reduced the amount to about $800,000.
Defense attorneys contended that Mills, who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor tax charge under a plea bargain that required him to testify in the Baxter/Berry case, took funds from the hospital and other medical partnerships operated by the four doctors.
But prosecutors said Mills did only what his bosses told him to do, and gave funds from the hospital directly to Baxter for such expenses as work on his home, purchase of a Lincoln car, stock purchases, and money for remodeling a building to serve as Baxter's medical clinic.
Prosecutors said Mills gave Berry money from hospital revenues for country club dues, his daughter's Corvette, and a total of $25,000 in cash.
Nancy Baxter's role was to endorse checks her husband had gotten in good faith and deposit them in the bank, defense attorneys contended.
"The thing that troubles me is the lack of the defendants to accept responsibility and admit their wrongdoing," Turk said Monday before imposing fines. "I understand the dilemma they are in and that they intend to appeal the case. But I think the three defendants have actually blocked out guilt and feel they are not guilty.
"They have to know that the evidence is overwhelming that they are guilty."
Baxter and Berry will lose their licenses to practice medicine. Baxter voluntarily resigned from his position on the Virginia Medical Board.
by CNB