LANSING (WKZO-AM) — The former CEO of Calhoun County’s mental health authority will spend between 32 months and 10 years in prison for claiming he was paying a health care consultant on official documents, when he was actually sending over $500,000 in taxpayer money to a fortune teller and palm reader in Florida.
The specific charges against Ervin Brinker were two counts of Medicaid fraud and one count of embezzlement by a public officer.
While heading Summit Pointe, Brinker had the authority to issue the checks without board approval.
He was sentenced this week in Lansing after pleading guilty last month.
“The cost of abusing the public trust in Michigan is very high, for both the abuser and the tax payers,” Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette said.
Brinker was also ordered to pay over $1 million in restitution.
Brinker, 69, will also lose his pension, valued at around $2 million.
– John McNeill
