The McCurtain County Sheriff’s Office is investigating McCurtain Memorial Hospital CEO Brian Whitfield on allegations of fraud and embezzlement, according to search warrants issued in the case and obtained by this newspaper.
The McCurtain Memorial Medical Management Board is holding a regular session today, including an executive session to discuss a pending “investigation, claim or action” with legal counsel, the agenda shows.
McCurtain County deputy and investigator James Revada has obtained and executed search warrants for a variety of hospital records, including the following:
- Any money paid to Whitfield or to 903 HR LLC from Feb. 1, 2022 to the present time, including electronic fund transfers, check stubs and cancelled checks.
- Contractor information and invoices from Feb. 1, 2022, including landscaping.
- Copy of corporate and state bylaws from 2022 to the present time.
In seeking multiple search warrants at the hospital, Revada said the following:
- The district attorney was contacted concerning possible fraud and embezzlement by Whitfield.
- On Jan. 2 of this year, Whitfield’s wife posted a picture of her husband holding what appeared to be a master’s degree from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
- The university’s registrar said they have no record of Whitfield in their system, deeming the degree to be fraudulent.
- When Whitfield applied for the position of human resources director, he presented a resume that said he had a bachelor’s degree in health administration from Baylor University in Waco, Texas, and a high school diploma from Bonham, Texas.
- According to Baylor University Campus Police Department, there is no record there of Brian Whitfield.
- Whitfield said in his HR director interview that he had obtained a GED while in prison.
- In a Sept. 16 interview, Whitfield admitted that he had neither a bachelor’s degree from Baylor nor a master’s degree from the University of Michigan.
- According to an interview with former MMMM board president Kendra Gross, she assumed Whitfield had a bachelor’s degree from Baylor but doesn’t recall if he mentioned having a degree.
- Whitfield’s contract with the hospital shows that on Jan. 11, 2024, he was moved from a W-2 employee to a 1099 contractor.
- In his most recent contract, he requested to be paid through 903 HR LLC while also entering an “advanced repayment agreement” where the hospital will pay his yearly salary in advance, but he will have to repay the hospital if he’s terminated before the end of 2026.
- According to MMMM board meeting notes in January 2025, the hospital needed remodeling and landscaping work done, and Whitfield advised that his father, Paul Whitfield, owner of Paul’s Vinyl Siding and Metal Roofs, would perform the work at a lower cost. Whitfield stated that he let chief financial officer Kena Allen handle the matter, including the contract, estimates, and check for materials.
“Based on the facts contained in this affidavit, as well as my training and experience, I have reason to believe that McCurtain Memorial Hospital may have evidence pertaining to Whitfield’s fraud,” Revada told the court.
Revada has previously conducted many search warrants relating to fraud, has conducted many interviews related to fraud and embezzlement, and has completed the OSBI academy in 2025 and the OSBI crime scene class this year.
Revada said that when he executed the search warrant, he obtained Whitfield’s resume used to apply for the HR director position, all federally funded grants from Jan. 1, 2022 to the present, Whitfield’s personnel file, and board meeting notes since Jan. 1, 2022.
Whitfield is so far facing no charges as the investigation continues.
He has a criminal history in Texas spanning from 1999 to 2010. The record includes three felony convictions in Fannin County, including one count of aggravated kidnapping and two counts of impersonating a public servant – as well as a subsequent felony theft charge in Hunt County.
Whitfield says his hospital background check came up clean, but that he nonetheless disclosed his past when he was being interviewed for the HR director job.
