Federal jurors have convicted two Twin Cities men of embezzling more than $500,000 from a Park Nicollet clinic where they worked.
Gregory C. Koch, 59, of Minneapolis, and Jerome D. Kangas, 58, of Blaine, were convicted in U.S. District Court in Minneapolis last week of mail fraud and conspiracy to commit mail fraud in a scheme that spanned several years while they worked for the Park Nicollet CPAP clinic in St. Louis Park. Kangas also was convicted of currency transaction fraud.
Koch and Kangas await sentencing, which has yet to be scheduled.
"We are disappointed in the verdict," Koch's attorney, Paul Engh, said Monday. "During his long and award-winning career, Greg was always devoted to his patients and the quality of their care."
Joe Friedberg, an attorney for Kangas, declined to comment about the verdicts, which came at the end of the seven-day trial.
According to prosecutors;
Kangas was hired in June 2013 as a clinician in the CPAP clinic, where Koch was the supervisor and later the manager. CPAP machines treat sleep apnea.
Although Kangas worked only after-hours and weekends responding to CPAP patient calls, Koch entered more than 8,500 weekday hours on behalf of Kangas for work he did not perform. On most of the days when Kangas was paid, he was either working for another employer or was out of town.
