CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A former state DHHR worker who lied to federal investigators looking at possible covid fraud will be on federal probation for one year.
Timothy Priddy, 49, of Buffalo, was sentenced Monday in federal court after an earlier guilty plea.
Priddy told investigators he only approved invoices from a large covid test kit provider in connection with K-12 testing kits once the invoices were verified by two other state workers. He admitted during his guilty plea that what he said wasn’t true.
U.S. Attorney Will Thompson said Priddy certified the K-12 testing program invoices without making any effort to verify their accuracy.
“If he would have simply told us he was too busy and he didn’t have time to do it that would have been a totally different result for him and probably would have been understandable under the conditions of covid, but no, he doubled down and lied about it,” Thompson previously told MetroNews.
Thompson said Priddy was first interviewed in connection with a larger investigation into the test kit purchases. He said Priddy’s decision not to tell the truth has all but deflated that investigation.
“It’s not completely closed but it’s probably not going to go a lot further. His involvement in not telling the truth really curtailed our investigation quite a bit,” Thompson said.
Thompson said there’s no indication Priddy was getting a kickback from suppliers.
Priddy, who had no previous criminal history, faced up to five years in federal prison and a $250,000 but he received neither. He was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston.