Russell Richardson, 44, former DeKalb Medical Center, Inc. (DeKalb Medical) Director of Security, has pleaded guilty to fraudulently using hospital funds to acquire multiple handguns that he then sold for his personal benefit and financial gain. Richardson, who was then the Director of Security at DeKalb Medical Center, was authorized to submit purchase requests and to approve purchases made on behalf of the Security Department. Richardson abused his position when, beginning in March 2016, he submitted purchasing requests to the hospital for firearms he intended to sell for his personal benefit. Since Richardson also approved the requests, the hospital paid for the firearms that Richardson subsequently took and sold for profit. Then, starting in July 2017, Richardson used hospital letterhead to place orders directly with the firearms’ vendor. He concealed his gun purchases from the hospital by causing the vendor to send the invoices directly to him. Richardson then submitted false invoices to the hospital that listed the vendor’s name but falsely listed the items purchased. The hospital paid the invoices without knowing the funds were actually for the purchase of numerous firearms. After acquiring firearms purchased with hospital money, Richardson advertised that he had guns for sale at gun courses he taught in South Carolina and on his social media sites. He eventually sold many of them for 100% profit. According to ATF records, and Richardson’s own admission, he acquired approximately 100 firearms since the inception of his fraud scheme.
