Former West Virginia health official gets probation in COVID-19 payment investigation

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former West Virginia state health official was sentenced Monday to one year of probation for lying about whether or not he verified vendor invoices from a company claiming to have conducted COVID-19 tests for the state.

Timothy Priddy was sentenced in federal court for his guilty plea to making a false statement to investigators.

An indictment filed in October charged Priddy with lying to federal agents in August 2022 when he said he verified a vendor’s invoices for performing COVID-19 tests as part of a back-to-school program before approving them. Priddy knew his statements were false because he made no such verification efforts, according to prosecutors.

Priddy, 49, of Buffalo, West Virginia, had faced up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Priddy, who held various managerial positions with the state Bureau for Public Health’s Center for Threat Preparedness, left his job the day the indictment was announced.

Prosecutors said federal investigators were trying to determine whether one or more vendors providing COVID-19 tests and mitigation services to the state overbilled or otherwise received federal payments they shouldn’t have through the state Department of Health and Human Resources. Investigators focused on a vendor that submitted invoices approved by Priddy for payments exceeding $34 million.

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