Ex-Health Official Accused of Defrauding U.S.

The former chief of the U.S. Public Health Service in four Western states is scheduled for arraignment Sept. 15 on charges of defrauding the government out of more than $26,000 in travel expenses.

Dr. Sheridan Weinstein of Tiburon, the former $133,000-a-year regional administrator of the Public Health Service, was indicted Tuesday on charges of filing false travel expense claims for himself, knowingly approving false claims for subordinates and giving relatives frequent-flyer tickets he had accumulated on government-paid trips.

Two of Weinstein’s top assistants, with whom he is accused of plotting to submit false hotel bills, have pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Weinstein, said U.S. Atty. John Mendez.

A former deputy administrator has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge, and a lower-ranking employee has agreed to plead guilty, Mendez said. He said three others would avoid prosecution while cooperating with authorities.

In all, $59,000 was lost by the government through fraud by Weinstein and his subordinates, Mendez said. Weinstein is accused of overcharging by nearly $11,000 for his own travel, knowingly approving $5,800 in false travel vouchers and misappropriating $9,500 worth of frequent-flyer tickets.

The 14 felony charges against Weinstein by a federal grand jury cover the period from September, 1985, to December, 1991. The maximum sentence he faces is 80 years in prison and $3.5 million in fines, Mendez said.

Weinstein’s lawyer, Nanci Clarence, did not return a telephone call.

Weinstein, based in San Francisco, was an assistant surgeon general with the rank of a two-star admiral in the Public Health Service’s Commission Corps, Mendez said. He had a staff of 195, with responsibility for California, Arizona, Nevada, Hawaii and a number of Pacific islands.

In a joint announcement with Elliott Kramer, regional inspector general with the Department of Health and Human Services, Mendez said Weinstein was accused of agreeing with assistants to double-bill the government for hotel rooms on numerous trips. Typically, they would share a hotel room, then submit vouchers for individual rooms, Mendez said.

During one stay in Rockville, Md., Mendez said, Weinstein made up fake hotel receipts on hotel stationery, using a government computer.