Convicted felon changed names, briefly hired at Kansas hospital
LAWRENCE, Kan. — A man convicted of financial crimes who changed his name has been fired from a top position with a Lawrence hospital.
Mike Rogers was serving as the chief financial officer of LMH Health when the truth about his past came to light, KSNW reports. His birth name was Michael Patrick Brunton.
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As Michael Patrick Brunton, he was twice accused of financial crimes. In the mid-2000s, as part of a plea agreement, he admitted to running an online auction scam where he auctioned off football tickets and a Rolex watch that winning bidders never received.
While serving probation for that crime, he found employment as a financial officer with the Franklin Parrish Medical Center in Winnsboro, Louisiana. He was arrested there in 2007, accused of misusing the hospital’s credit cards and trying to extort money from hospital administrators, according to an archived article from The Associated Press.
In October 2022, Brunton legally changed his name to Mike Rogers. According to an LMH spokesperson, he was hired by the hospital system, with his start date being Sept. 11, 2023.
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“On October 26, 2023, LMH Health staff became aware of some inconsistencies regarding Rogers’ identity,” says Autumn Bishop, Marketing Manager and Content Strategist for LMH Health.
Bishop said those concerns were immediately brought to the attention of their President and CEO, Russ Johnson, and the LMH Health HR Department.
She says the next day, the hospital learned Rogers had legally changed his name. “Rogers did not disclose these facts, nor did he accurately disclose his employment and felony records during the interviewing/onboarding process.”
Bishop tells KSN News that he was immediately put on leave, his laptop confiscated, and his access to LMH health computer systems severed.
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“We are currently conducting a root cause analysis (RCA) to identify any underlying factors related to our background checks and other hiring processes. An RCA avoids surface-level explanations to identify the factors that produced the event. This analysis is consistent with being a High-Reliability Organization.”
Bishop tells KSNW that they have strong financial protections in place, and Rogers never had access to any of the hospital bank accounts. She says early investigations show no financial loss for the hospital during Roger’s brief employment.
