Wishard Employee Steals $250,000, Gets Home Detention

This is an unbelievable case. WRTV is reporting on an unidentified former employee of Wishard Hospital stealing $250,000 from the hospital and receiving a sentence of home detention. Here's the story based on a press release issued by Wishard:

A former employee at Wishard Memorial Hospital has been sentenced to home detention after stealing $250,000 from the hospital.


A news release from the hospital Thursday said that a former employee was sentenced to four years of home detention and four years on probation.

The theft was discovered earlier this year and included the diversion of payments intended for the hospital in the amount of $250,000, hospital officials said.
 
The former employee, who was not named in the release, was also sentenced to counseling and ordered to repay the hospital.

The story gives us very little to go on, but you can assume from the facts the former employee had to be in some sort of administrative position with the hospital to have been in a position to steal $250,000. To think that a person could steal that kind of money and simply be sentenced to home detention is an outrage. This is precisely why so many believe our criminal justice system is unfair. Inevitably, it seems white collar criminals engaged in theft are sentenced much more leniently than typical petty theft cases are handled by our criminal courts. In this case, the identity of the guilty former employee is not even being disclosed. What gives? The public needs to know why this person was dealt with so leniently by our criminal justice system, particularly when it involves a theft of public funds.

UPDATE: Fox59 News identifies the former employee who stole $250,000 as Rebecca Sudhop, who worked in the Accounts Receivable department for the hospital:

A former employee from Wishard Heath Services was sentenced to 4 years of home detention for embezzling money from her employer.


Rebecca Sudhop, 53, Fishers, was convicted of theft from her position in the Accounts Receivable Department at Wishard Health Services.

According to a statment from Wishard, Sudhop diverted payments intended for the hospital in the amount of $250,000.

Sudhop was sentenced to 4 years of home detention on December 7th to be followed by 4 years of probation. The sentence also includes mandatory counseling and restitution, which Sudhop has began to pay in the form of property and funds.

The investigation began earlier in the year when employees noticed that funds were possibly being diverted and an internal investigation was initiated immediatedly.

Wishard's internal investigation concluded that there was indeed potetial misconduct by Sudhop, and the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department contacted.

The case was fully investigated by the IMPD and then turned over to the Marion County Prosecutor's Office.