Prosecutors have it all wrong, former state Rep. Robin Williams testified Sunday: He earned every cent of nearly $1 million that flowed from an Augusta mental health center into his pockets.
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"No, sir," Mr. Williams answered when asked by his attorney whether he thought he had done anything wrong when he got paid by those who obtained contracts with the Community Mental Health Center of East Central Georgia or when he shared in the profits of those contracts.
Prosecutors, who concluded their case Sunday afternoon, contend that Mr. Williams and his co-defendants conspired to steal money from the financially strapped mental health center through health-care fraud, money laundering, false statements and bribery.
Mr. Williams, former center Director C. Michael Brockman, Augusta pharmacist Duncan Fordham, and lobbyists M. Chad Long and Rick L. Camp have all pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Court.
After the last prosecution witnesses showed the jury the totals Mr. Williams collected from the various contracts - $357,586 from Mr. Fordham's alone - Mr. Williams took the stand as the first defense witness.
"I told Duncan Fordham ... that I'd like to be paid a monthly retainer," Mr. Williams testified. He arranged for Mr. Fordham to meet with Campbell Peery, the center's director at the time, over drinks, and Mr. Williams' employees prepared the Duncan Drugs invoices for the mental health center, Mr. Williams said.
He introduced the center's executives to Mr. Camp, a former Atlanta Braves pitcher, because Mr. Camp could help the center get money from the General Assembly, Mr. Williams said.
He took half of the center's $35,000 payment to Mr. Camp because he worked on the center's behalf, too, Mr. Williams testified.
Mr. Camp then gave him $50,000 of the $71,218 check Mr. Camp got from the center, Mr. Williams said. The money was payment for the men to get the financing the mental health center needed to buy the closed Charter Hospital. Mr. Williams brought two potential financiers to Augusta, he testified.
Mr. Williams also worked with Mr. Long, the grandson of former Georgia House Speaker Tom Murphy. When Mr. Long got a $20,000 check from the mental health center, "I got half of it," Mr. Williams testified, because they both worked on trying to get a Medicaid number from South Carolina. He played golf with a South Carolina politician to seek his help, Mr. Williams testified.
When the center wanted a consultant to review the billing system, Mr. Williams was an owner in Capitol Health Systems, which got that consulting contract and a second contract to take over the billing service, Mr. Williams testified. He got Capitol Health Systems' checks because he was an owner, he said.
And when the mental health center's leaders decided to renew their efforts to open an in-patient unit for children, Mr. Williams and Mr. Long used the name International Consulting Corp. and put up a public relations expert as the front man to win a $250,000 contract from the center. The money was to obtain a certificate of need from the state that would allow the center to open the in-patient unit.
"We took this at risk," Mr. Williams said. If it had cost more than $250,000 to obtain the certificate, then they would have lost money, he said. In the end, he gave all of the money back to the mental health center - even $42,000 an attorney had kept for preparing the application for the certificate, Mr. Williams testified.
He never told anyone not to mention his name in connection with all of these contracts with the mental health system, Mr. Williams testified.
He said his name never appears on paper connected to Duncan Drugs, Capitol Health Systems or International Consulting because he wanted to spare the mental health center's board of directors the kind of criticism generated in March 2001 when it gave him one "little" $30,000 consulting contract.
Prosecutors will have the opportunity to cross-examine Mr. Williams this morning in federal court.
Reach Sandy Hodson at (706) 823-3226 or sandy.hodson@augustachronicle.com.
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• Williams case goes to jurors
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• Questions focus on pricey cruise
• Robin Williams calls deals honest
• Williams trial witness is first to admit fraud
• Prosecutors say Williams lined pockets
• Witnesses speak of contract talks
• Jurors listen to tales of windfall
• Witness says he was 'puppet'
• Jury hears opening statements
• Fraud trial set for court today
• Trial is set to begin in fraud case
• Center considers name change for credibility
• Mental health center CEO works to get things straight
• Tangle of controversy
• Robin Williams' trial is set to begin Feb. 14
• Trials often have set path
• Health agency's board selects candidates
• Lawyer settles on deal
• Attorney could face complaints on ethics
• Center's ex-lawyer pleads innocent
• Williams' lawyer calls deals legal
• Williams indicted on fraud
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