Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 7, 1993 TAG: 9304070145
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
HOSPITAL-THEFTS TRIAL OPENS IN RADFORD
The former head of the Radford Community Hospital radiology department told a jury Tuesday how he teamed up with the president of a Roanoke company to steal $328,000 worth of X-ray film from the hospital.Paul Turpin, 41, of Christiansburg was the prosecution's key witness on the first day of testimony in the trial of David Hutchens, 47, president of H&H X-Ray Inc. in Roanoke.
Hutchens and Turpin each were charged with 33 counts of grand larceny and one count of conspiracy to commit grand larceny for stealing supplies from the hospital from September 1988 through September 1991.
Turpin pleaded guilty to the charges last year. He will be sentenced after Hutchens' trial.
In Radford Circuit Court Tuesday, Turpin said Hutchens initiated the X-ray film scam and he agreed to participate because he owed Hutchens $2,000.
Turpin said that on 33 occasions during the three-year period he took 10 cases of X-Ray film - each worth about $10,000 - from the hospital and sold them to Hutchens for $4,000.
An audit of the hospital's records from April 1, 1989, to June 30, 1991, revealed that at least 150,000 sheets of X-ray film were missing from the inventory.
Turpin testified that twice in 1989 he told Hutchens he wanted to quit stealing from the hospital and both times Hutchens intimidated him into continuing.
"He said that if I tried to do anything to stop that he would make sure that I was the one that was caught and convicted," Turpin said. "I just felt trapped."
Robbie Jenkins, one of Hutchens attorneys, tried to discredit Turpin's testimony by pointing out that he has given four statements to state police and each time his story varied.
When he was first questioned in 1991, Turpin denied stealing X-ray film from the hospital but confessed after failing a lie detector test.
He first told police that he had sold film to Hutchens 57 times from 1986 to 1991 and that he did it because he owed Hutchens $1,200 - not $2,000.
Jenkins also said Turpin agreed to testify against Hutchens only because he wanted the judge to give him a lighter sentence.
Turpin said state police told him his cooperation in the case would be considered when he was sentenced, but that no promises were made.
"The only reason I came here today is so Dave would take his responsibility like I did," he said.
In his opening statements to the jury, Jenkins said that he will prove that it was "absolutely impossible" that Hutchens participated in the scheme.
"Mr. Hutchens will show that he was in another or state or another county on the dates this was supposed to occur," he said.
Commonwealth's Attorney Randal Duncan will continue presenting his case today in the trial that is scheduled to last four days.