Indictment on Scheme to Steal Medical Devices for Resale
FDA has announced the unsealing of an indictment charging two former Michigan-based Beaumont Hospital employees and a medical supply distributor with wire fraud based on their scheme to steal medical devices from the hospital and then sell them on the Internet. Charged were: Paul Purdy, 49, of Beavercreek, OH; Valdet Seferovic, 32, of Auburn Hills, MI; and Zafar Khan, 40, of Fenton, MI.
According to the government, from 2003 to 2017, Purdy was employed at Beaumont Hospital and stole medical devices and supplies and resold them via the Internet. “Purdy resigned from the hospital in 2017 and enlisted Seferovic to continue the scheme of stealing medical devices and medical supplies,” the government contends. Purdy and Seferovic primarily stole three types of devices: (1) cystoscopes, a thin tube with a camera which is inserted through the urethra and into the bladder, some of which may have been contaminated as they were stolen from the cleaning and disinfecting room after being used in surgical procedures; (2) ophthalmoscopes, an instrument for inspecting the retina and the other parts of the eye; and (3) otoscopes, an instrument for inspecting the ears.
Additionally, the indictment said Seferovic also agreed to steal and sell medical devices to Khan, the owner of Wholesale Medical & Surgical Suppliers of America. Once Khan acquired the stolen medical devices, he in turn sold them to unsuspecting purchasers via the Internet.