The head of a northeast Missouri ambulance district pleaded guilty Wednesday to embezzling tens of thousands of dollars and fraudulently acquiring prescription drugs.

Russell J. Hall, 46, admitted as part of a plea deal in federal court that while manager of the Knox County Ambulance District in Edina, Mo., he stole more than $28,000 and lied to obtain prescription opioids and other drugs on 25 separate occasions.

Court documents show that between June 2014 and June 2015, Hall wrote himself and cashed approximately 20 checks as vacation compensation, totaling $24,607. In addition, from May 2013 to May 2015, Hall admitted to paying himself $3,876 for extra shifts that he did not work.

Because the ambulance district receives Medicare reimbursements, the FBI opened a federal investigation late last year.

Along with the embezzlement, Hall pleaded guilty to writing faking orders for morphine sulfate, hydromorphone and meperidine – all prescription opioids – and diazepam, commonly known under the brand name Valium. Records show that on 25 occasions, Hall obtained the drugs from pharmacies by falsely claiming that the ambulance district would use them for patients during transport. Instead, Hall took most of the drugs that he ordered himself, then removed records of the drug orders from the ambulance district’s files.



The Edina Sentinel reports that Hall, who worked for the ambulance district since 1994, resigned his position as manager after taking the plea deal.

Hall could face a decade in prison under federal sentencing guidelines, and waived his right to appeal as part of the plea agreement.

Sentencing is scheduled in U.S. District Court in St. Louis for June 7 at 10 a.m.