Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 26, 1993 TAG: 9308260189
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RADFORD LENGTH: Medium
But it wasn't enough. In the mid-1980s, needing money for a divorce lawyer, he says, he became involved in a cash-for-X-ray film scheme that bilked $330,000 from the hospital and landed $132,000 in his pockets over several years.
In September 1991, he confessed to police, lost his job and now makes minimum wage.
Turpin, 42, was sentenced in Radford Circuit Court on Wednesday to serve five years of a 34-year prison sentence - one year for each of 33 grand larceny convictions and one year for a conspiracy conviction.
Judge Duane Mink ruled that after serving five years, Turpin will be placed on probation for the remaining charges. Turpin faced a maximum sentence of 670 years in prison.
Commonwealth's Attorney Randal Duncan had asked Mink to sentence Turpin to at least 70 years in prison. Less than that, he said, "sends a horrible message to our community, for someone to profit in that fashion and not pay the price" for the largest theft in the city's history.
Turpin, 42, worked for the hospital for 14 years.
Turpin realized that skimming off the hospital's X-ray film supply was wrong. But he didn't stop after getting enough money for a divorce.
"I got over $100,000," Turpin testified. "Some of it, I spent on education . . . some of it, I spent on flight lessons, and the rest of it, I'm not sure."
"I got greedy," Turpin admitted under questioning from his attorney, Harvey Lutins of Roanoke.
Turpin now makes minimum wage as an assistant manager at Arby's in Radford - across the street from the Radford City Jail where he will begin serving his five-year sentence Tuesday. He will be allowed to participate in a work-release program, working days while serving his time at nights in the jail.
Friends and former co-workers testified Wednesday that even though his arrest had brought him shame, they now saw Turpin as a better man than before the charges.
He used to be aloof, withdrawn and insecure, they said, but this experience had humbled him.
"Who wouldn't be humbled by these charges?" Duncan responded.
The prosecutor said that although Turpin was told that his cooperation with authorities would be taken into consideration when he was sentenced, Turpin did not live up to his promise to cooperate.
Turpin did testify against David Hutchens, the president of H&H X-Ray in Roanoke and a co-defendant in the case, but "he ruined the commonwealth's case against Mr. Hutchens, and I'm not being vindictive," Duncan said.
Hutchens was acquitted by a jury in April of charges that he was involved in the X-ray film-for-cash scheme with Turpin.
Turpin testified in April that Hutchens suggested the thefts as a way for Turpin to pay back money he owed Hutchens.
H&H supplied X-ray film to Radford Community Hospital. Turpin testified in April that on 33 occasions he took 10 cases of X-ray film - each worth about $10,000 - from the hospital and sold them to Hutchens for $4,000.
But the jury foreman at Hutchens' trial said Turpin was not a credible witness because he had given authorities several statements with different details, such as the amount of money he received.
Each inconsistent statement Turpin had given - changing the estimated amount of the thefts from $500,000 to $200,000 to $23,600 and then finally to $330,000 - weakened the state's case against Hutchens, Duncan said.
Hutchens had witnesses or receipts that showed he was in other parts of Virginia or other states on the dates listed on the 33 grand larceny indictments.
Hutchens told the jury that he may have received X-ray film from Turpin, but it was payment for a computer system and office equipment H&H provided the radiology department.
Hutchens said he lost about $2 million in sales as a result of the charges he faced.
"If there's a case that warrants a tough sentence, this is it," Duncan said, adding that Turpin's action couldn't be dismissed as a mistake.
"It's not a lark; it's a plan," Duncan said.
Lutins argued that Turpin should not have to pay because Duncan did not gain a conviction in the other case.
Lutins asked the judge to go by state sentencing guidelines in a probation officer's presentence report that suggested an eight-month jail sentence.
Sandra Turpin, Turpin's wife of 3 1/2 years, said she had no idea about the X-ray scheme. While dating Turpin, she was impressed by lavish dinners out; but since his arrest, they've lost everything and even sold their $112,000 home in Christiansburg at a loss to avoid foreclosure.
Mink reserved the right to later require Turpin to make restitution to the hospital. The hospital has filed a civil lawsuit asking for $500,000 from Turpin for its losses.
by CNB