Businessman sentenced for bilking hospitals seeking masks

A federal judge sentenced a Burr Ridge businessman on Monday to nearly five years in prison on charges that he swindled two hospitals that had sought coveted protective face masks in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dennis W. Haggerty Jr. pleaded guilty in March to wire fraud and money laundering charges for taking more than $2.5 million from hospitals in Chicago and Iowa.

Haggerty spent much of that money on personal credit cards and luxury cars without delivering the million N95 masks that his biotechnology company, At Diagnostics Inc., promised to Northwestern Memorial Healthcare in Chicago and University of Iowa Medical Center, according to federal prosecutors.

Haggerty briefly apologized during Monday's court hearing for his actions, which he said were done "hastily," the Chicago Tribune reported.

"Did I make mistakes? 100%," Haggerty said. "Am I a decent man? Yes, I think I am."

U.S. District Judge John Kness, however, ordered a 57-month prison term for Haggerty and that he repay the nearly $2 million he still owes to the two hospitals.

The judge said he found Haggerty's behavior, which included the creation of phony billing records and repeated attempts to blame the fraud on two business partners, "really nothing short of contemptible."

"This was you taking advantage of a very bad time in this country for your own benefit," Kness said.