Illinois Man Pleads Guilty To Kickback Scheme

An Illinois man is headed to prison for his role in a kickback scheme with a former Janesville hospital executive.

Forty-seven year-old Ryan Weckerly pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Madison on Thursday.

From 2015 to 2020 57-year-old Barbara Bortner of Milton, then vice-president of marketing and public relations at Mercyhealth, took inflated invoices from Weckerly for services provided by his marketing companies.

The invoices were paid by Mercyhealth to Weckerly who then kicked back more than two-million dollars to Bortner. Weckerly faces up to 20 years in prison when he’s sentenced in March.

Bortner pleaded guilty last month and faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced in February.