Former Lee Health employee arrested for stealing $150,000 worth of equipment to sell online
A former Lee Health employee faces charges after authorities say he stole $150,000 worth of equipment and sold it online.
Ricardo Rodrigues, 56, of Lehigh Acres, faces two counts of grand theft and one count of trafficking stolen property. He was arrested Feb. 4 and released the following day on $55,000 bond.
According to an arrest affidavit from Fort Myers Police, officers responded to Lee Memorial Hospital, 2776 Cleveland Ave., on Nov. 19 to reports of stolen items.
The director of nursing told officers that 10 heart monitors and five monitor batteries were unaccounted for. The monitors had been in storage at Lee Memorial Hospital's intensive care unit.
Hospital management told officers they already started an internal investigation after they discovered the monitors went missing in early November.
The monitors were valued at $8,500. The batteries were valued at about $4,500, the report states.
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While Phillips — the manufacturing company — tracked the serial numbers for the missing items, they noticed that one had been reassigned to a company in Laguna Miguel, California.
Authorities discovered the purchasing company, SakoMed Biomedical Services, listed 10 such monitors in its inventory.
A representative for SakoMed Biomedical Services told authorities they purchased the heart monitors "from an unknown person on eBay."
Authorities tracked the payment to a PayPal account associated with Rodrigues.
When police contacted management at Lee Memorial Hospital, they confirmed his employment as the lead plant operations technician at the hospital and added he had access "to all locations within the hospital."
When authorities met with Rodrigues, he denied knowledge of the thefts and said he does not work with the medical equipment at the hospital.
Rodrigues also said he does not have an online account that sells medical equipment, but confirmed he has an eBay account under the username "Clinicas," which he has had since 2022.
According to the report, Rodrigues also mentioned he found three "batteries" on a broken hospital bed the week prior.
Rodrigues also confessed to misplacing three monitors on a shelf. Hospital officials found the three monitors prior to his confession.
According to the report, Rodrigues offered to let officers review the eBay account on his cellphone.
The review yielded the discovery of a wearable patient monitor Rodrigues reportedly sold.
When confronted, Rodrigues told officers he obtained it from his prior employer, Broward Health, and added that the device does not work.
Rodrigues told officers he sold it for parts to SakoMed Biomedical Services, but said they returned it because it did not work.
Among the items Rodrigues listed for sale or recently sold, the report says, were waterflow control modules, numerous pipe fittings, absorbent bed pads, water filters, and a feeding pump.
When confronted about the pipe fittings, the report states, Rodrigues said he buys the pipe fittings at Home Depot to complete projects at his house and then sells the extra pieces.
A search warrant issued to eBay revealed Rodrigues sold 49 items on an account under the pseudonym of "Clinicas," earning him a profit of $1,857.39.
Authorities said Rodrigues still had 106 items listed for sale with potential earnings of nearly $4,600.
A separate warrant submitted to PayPal revealed Rodrigues, under the username "RICHMEDEQUIP," sold four monitors and earned $8,160.
In addition to the $8,160 sale to SakoMed Biomedical Services, PayPal records show an additional $29,175 worth of transactions between SakoMed Biomedical Services and Rodrigues between Sept. 30 and Dec. 4, 2024,
Authorities said Rodrigues removed approximately $151,390 worth of equipment from Lee Memorial Hospital.
Hospital management told authorities they have not had any other lost items since Rodrigues was placed on leave Dec. 10 before his Feb. 4 arrest.
Jaclyn Bevis, spokesperson for Lee Health, the parent company of Lee Memorial Hospital, said Rodrigues "was placed on crisis leave at the onset of the investigation and is no longer employed at Lee Health."
Rodrigues' arraignment is set March 10.
Tomas Rodriguez is a Breaking/Live News Reporter for the Naples Daily News and The News-Press. You can reach Tomas at TRodriguez@gannett.com or 772-333-5501. Connect with him on Threads @tomasfrobeltran, Instagram @tomasfrobeltran, Facebook @tomasrodrigueznews and Bluesky @tomasfrodriguez.
This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Fort Myers Police: Lee Memorial staffer accused of grand theft
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