CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A suspended DHHR supervisor is free on bond after being indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with an investigation into a covid vendor providing services to the state.
Timothy Priddy, of Milton, was in U.S. District Court in Charleston Thursday for an initial appearance and detention hearing.
Priddy has been indicted on four criminal counts. He allegedly lied to FBI agents and then later lied to a federal grand jury.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joshua Hanks told U.S. Magistrate Judge Dwane Tinsley that Priddy made false statements to FBI agents when they interviewed him in connection with the FBI’s review into a certain vendor providing covid testing to the state. The investigation began when the invoices paying the testing vendor didn’t match up with what an online portal showed were tests administered.
According to the indictment, the out-of-state vendor submitted invoices totaling nearly $45 million dollars for 500,000 covid test kits but the same company only reported 50,000 test results between October 2020 and March 2022.
Hanks said during the investigation Priddy was asked about the DHHR’s verification process of vendors and how they were certified. Hanks told Tinsley investigators later found out there was no verification process even though Priddy said there was one.
“It (the verification) never occurred. The process never happened,” Hanks said.
Priddy provided investigators with names of other DHHR workers who helped with the verification but no one indicated it ever occurred, Hanks said.
“All denied being in it,” Hanks told Tinsley.
Priddy allegedly certified 13 invoices on his own totaling $34 million.
Priddy, who held top roles with the DHHR Bureau for Public Health Center for Threat Preparedness, then testified before a grand jury where Hanks said he continued to lie.
Hanks said Priddy’s decision not to be honest impacted the FBI’s investigation.
Priddy, who is currently using his annual leave while he’s suspended from his state job, pleaded not guilty to all charges. Tinsley set his trial date for Dec. 19 before U.S. District Judge Thomas Johnston. Tinsley then released Priddy on bond.
Gov. Jim Justice was asked recently about the Priddy case. He said the courts would decide Priddy’s fate but he also said it would be difficult to argue that his administration didn’t manage the CARES Act money well.
“At the time all of this (the pandemic) was happening, the federal government was throwing money in every direction known to man because they had to but the guidance was absolutely at the very best it could be considering the magnitude of what the emergency was believed to be,” Justice said.
State Senate Finance Committee Chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, criticized Justice this week in connection with the Priddy case. Tarr said it’s just another example of Justice not being in control of his administration.
“It’s again just one of these situations where the governor has been absent from being present,” Tarr said on the Dave Allen Show on 580 WCHS Radio. “He stuck buddies into these positions and left them with no accountability and let agency after agency fall into ground and make national news on how terrible they are.”