Kathryn Abbate, former CEO of the Miami Beach Community Health Center, was arrested on both federal and state charges of theft on Wednesday, press reports indicate. Abbate, 64, allegedly embezzled millions of dollars from the Miami Beach Health Center during her tenure there. She is currently being held on $150,000 bail bond.
Abbate was charged via information rather than indictment, indicating that authorities anticipate her cooperation. The State of Florida charged her with one count of an organized scheme to defraud and one count of first-degree theft. Federal charges are more focused on the alleged cover-up. If convicted of all charges, Abbate faces up to 40 years behind bars.
The Miami Beach Community Health Center is an organization dedicated to helping uninsured and underinsured persons in South Florida get the medical services they need. According to the organization's website, it operates three facilities fully staffed by doctors which treat patients regardless of finances. The Health Center receives about $4 million in federal funding annually, sources say, and has about 300 employees.
Abbate headed the organization until mid-2012, when she was purportedly fired. Reports suggest that she was fired after the center's board of directors discovered that she had been stealing funds. "From the time Ms. Abbate's outrageous breach of a sacred trust came to light, the center has cooperated fully with the U.S. Attorney's Office," the center said in a statement following Abbate's arrest.
According to reports, the Miami Beach Community Health Center alleges that Abbate stole $6.8 million from them. The theft allegedly started in 2008 and continued into 2012. According to reports, Abbate earned $824,000 in 2008, a salary high above the county average for similar jobs. In 2009, that number reportedly rose to $987,902; in 2010, it was reportedly up to $1.2 million. It is not clear when the center started investigating why Abbate's salary was so large.
Abbate reportedly told the press in 2010 that her base salary was $275,000, but that she bough out pension and vacation time to get extra funds. She reportedly told the press that she needed the extra money to care for an unwell child.