Eye Clinic Director Sentenced for Scheme Netting Nearly $500K

A Michigan woman was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Thursday for her role in scamming two Deerfield-based physician offices in which she served as executive director, of nearly $500,000 by funnelling the money into her own vacations and furniture purchases.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced the sentence of Jayne Kulhanek, 57, of Benton Harbor, Mich., who pleaded guilty in February to one count of wire fraud in the scheme, which Assistant U.S. Attorney Sunil R. Harjani said lasted over a period of six years.

“The crime is not one of a mistake made one time, but a six-year scheme to steal money and cover it up,” he said. “Only when the defendant’s scheme was fully exposed by company management did she stop her fraudulent conduct.”

Kulhanek had been accused of using the corporate credit cards of The Laser Network LLC and United Eye Care Providers, both based in Deerfield, to pay for vacations in France and Spain, purchase new furniture and pay her own state and federal income taxes. She concealed the six-year scheme by making false accounting entries in the companies’ ledgers.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, The Laser Network and United Eye Care Providers are affiliated physician offices that provide treatment for the eye. As executive director of the two companies, Kulhanek had access to the companies’ corporate credit cards and bank accounts in order to pay business expenses. She also maintained the companies’ accounting ledgers.

From January 2006 to December 2012, she used the companies’ funds to pay balances on her personal credit cards that she had spent on her own living expenses. She attempted to conceal the scheme by fraudulently classifying the payments as having been made to a medical-equipment vendor or other supplier.

The scheme netted Kulhanek $491,328.57.