What started as a favor when a Westerville podiatrist agreed to pick up other doctors’ mail has ended in theft accusations.
Dr. Walter Shonkwiler, a podiatrist, is facing felony theft charges for depositing into his own account $7,220 from 17 checks to another practice. The money should have gone to Corporate Health Solutions, a practice that Dr. Patricia David runs with her husband, Dr. Ryan Herrington.
Shonkwiler, 49, is scheduled for trial Oct. 23 in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. He faces two counts of felony theft plus two unrelated charges of passing $2,500 in bad checks to his medical office landlord. He did not return phone calls seeking comment.
If Shonkwiler is convicted, he could be disciplined by the State Medical Board, said Joan Wehrle from the state agency. The discipline could range from a reprimand to a license suspension. Herrington said he has been interviewed by a State Medical Board investigator looking into the case.
The case began in February 2004, when David and Herrington temporarily suspended their practice because of the impending birth of their third child.
Corporate Health Solutions was next door to Shonkwiler’s Ankle & Foot Institute in a medical building on Westerview Drive. Shonkwiler has since moved his practice to W. Schrock Road.
With payments still coming into the office, Herrington asked Shonkwiler if he could collect the mail.
"What I should have done is get a post office box, but being the trusting person I am, I trusted Shonkwiler," Herrington said. Herrington said he and Shonkwiler had a cordial relationship.
In May 2004, Herrington resumed his practice and discovered that some bills hadn’t been paid.
He became alarmed when one of the patients told him he sent payment and could produce the canceled check. The endorsement on the check was illegible, Herrington said, but it clearly wasn’t his.
Herrington called a lawyer, Westerville police and Key Bank.
When Westerville police first interviewed Shonkwiler, he said his office manager mistakenly put the checks into the podiatrist’s account, a police report says.
Cpl. Ted Smith, who was then a Westerville police detective, said he at first thought Shonkwiler inadvertently deposited the money.
Herrington said Key Bank wouldn’t surrender deposit slips that pointed to Shonkwiler putting the money in his own account there until Herrington sued the bank in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
"I don’t understand why it took a civil suit to bring to light a criminal matter," Herrington said.
Key Bank cannot comment on cases involving a lawsuit, said Mike Sherman, the company’s spokesman. A civil suit would be required to access client information because of federal privacy laws.
Smith said he sought charges after examining the handwriting on a deposit slip and reinterviewing Shonkwiler’s staff. He said the bank acted properly.
Corporate Health Solutions has been repaid the $7,220, said Elizabeth Conkin, an attorney who represents Key Bank. The civil suit against Shonkwiler is pending in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
The case was put on hold when Shonkwiler filed for bankruptcy. There is an agreement to dismiss Key Bank as a defendant once the case resumes, Conkin said.
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