Former MetroHealth executive could serve 11 years in prison for bribes

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A former executive of MetroHealth Medical Center, who brazenly took construction-related bribes that cost the health system more than half a million dollars, has plead guilty and will potentially serve 11 to 14 years in prison, media outlets reported today.

John Carroll’s plea to taking bribes in exchange for construction contracts could bring an end to an ugly time for the hospital, considered the safety net for much of Greater Cleveland. The case, which began more than a year ago, has played out as MetroHealth has struggled to get out of the red, and experienced rounds of restructings and layoffs.

Carroll would essentially give contracts to construction firms who paid him through gifts subsidized by cost overruns from the projects. The bribes totalled more than $600,000, and he could be required to pay back that money, according to WSBTV.

No one else from the health system has been charged in this case, and some of the executives who worked with Carroll over the period of corruption have left the system. But there is a lingering question about whether MetroHealth could have caught Carroll earlier.

A construction company said it complained about the bids five years ago to hospital officials and a board member, and filed a taxpayer suit. But MetroHealth’s current managers said it’s impossible to expect them to catch errors only an IRS audit was able to find. And they pointed out the court ruled against the taxpayer suit.

Carroll’s case is grouped with a sprawling corruption probe that has engulfed Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland. The Plain Dealer reported that East-West Construction Co. executive Nilesh Patel, the man accused of bribing Carroll, would plead guilty later today.