Federal prosecutors say a grand jury has indicted a nurse on numerous charges accusing him of paying kickbacks so a nurse at Baptist Hospital Medical Center would buy goods from a medical-supply business.

Prosecutors said 42-year-old Geffrey Alan Yielding of Jacksonville faces 18 counts of violating a federal kickback statute, 27 counts of wire fraud and one count of falsifying documents.

A statement by U.S. Attorney Jane Duke said Yielding paid Jody Wall, a charge nurse at Baptist Hospital Medical Center in North Little Rock, about $47,000 to purchase goods that were reimbursable under a federal health-care program.

The grand jury said evidence showed that Yielding's wife, now deceased, was the owner of a medical supply distributorship and received commission payments for the sales. The grand jury said Yielding also made a fake promissory note to make it appear the kickbacks were actually loans to Wall.

Baptist Health spokesman Mark Lowman said Yielding was not an employee at the hospital. Lowman said Wall no longer works at the hospital. He said hospital auditors discovered discrepancies and alerted authorities.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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