President of Rolling Meadows company accused of scamming hospitals during pandemic

The president of a Rolling Meadows-based company was charged with one count of wire fraud for scamming two hospitals out of millions while one of his business partners was in the hospital with COVID-19, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

Authorities said the hospitals paid At Diagnostics Inc. more than $3 million for scarce personal protective equipment, such as N95 masks. The money went into a bank account purported to belong to the company but instead was controlled solely by Dennis W. Haggerty Jr., 44, of Burr Ridge. Haggerty and two business partners formed the company in March 2020 to sell personal protective equipment.

Haggerty used part of the payments for personal expenses, including buying two Maserati automobiles and a Land Rover sport utility vehicle, the complaint said.

Two large university hospitals - one located in Chicago and the other in Iowa City, Iowa - ordered a combined 1 million face masks from the company. When the Iowa hospital complained the masks had not been delivered, Haggerty lied and said payment had never been received, authorities allege.

After being discharged from a hospital in Florida, Haggerty's business partner confronted him and asked him to refund the money, according to an affidavit by an FBI agent. In response, Haggerty altered a bank statement to make it seem like the funds never came in, authorities allege.

To date, Haggerty has failed to return more than $2.6 million paid by the hospitals for masks that were never delivered, the complaint states.

Haggerty was arrested Wednesday morning, and federal agents searched his Willowbrook office

Wire fraud is punishable by up to 20 years in prison, according to the statement from the U.S. attorney's office.