Former public defender gets 1 year in federal prison for submitting false payment vouchers
A former panel attorney who worked as a public defender in multiple counties in West Virginia has been sentenced to one year and one day in federal prison for submitting false payment vouchers for her services to the state.
Lisa A. Weese, who has since been disbarred by consent, was accused of overbilling the W.Va. Public Defender Services by over $159,000 over a five-year period between 2006 and 2011, according to WBOY and an earlier West Virginia Record article.
During this time, Weese submitted fraudulent vouchers to W.Va. Public Defender Services, claiming to have worked more than 24 hours on each of the 48 days and more than 16 hours on an additional 168 days.
An audit showed that she would have had to put in over 10 hours a day for 537 days, and sometimes over 24 hours a day in order to actually work the hours she claimed.
In addition to prison, she must also make restitution in an as-yet-undetermined amount and spend three years on supervised release after she finishes serving her time. She was sentenced last week in federal district court in Elkins.
See also:
ABAJournal.com: “W. Va. Lawyer Takes Plea in Federal Mail Fraud Case re $159K in Claimed False PD Billing Vouchers”
