Former Missouri Rep Patricia Derges reports to federal prison to serve six-year sentence

Andrew Sullender, Springfield News-Leader
Updated ·2 min read
Dr. Tricia Derges listens to a patient's chest at the Lift Up Springfield medical clinic on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. Derges was named the 2018 Humanitarian Award recipient for her work with Lift Up Springfield.
Dr. Tricia Derges listens to a patient's chest at the Lift Up Springfield medical clinic on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018. Derges was named the 2018 Humanitarian Award recipient for her work with Lift Up Springfield.

Former Missouri state Representative Patricia Derges has reported to a federal prison in Lexington, Kentucky to begin serving her six-year-and-three-month sentence.

Derges, who represented Nixa in the state legislature until last year, was convicted on 22 counts, including wire fraud, illegal distribution of controlled substances and making false statements to investigators in June 2022. The felonies surrounded fraud within her for-profit and nonprofit clinics' finances, her consistent false advertising for treatments that she claimed contained stem cells and an illegitimate application for emergency coronavirus relief funds from Greene County.

After being sentenced in February to more than six years in prison, Derges reported this month to a minimum-security satellite camp at the Federal Medical Center Lexington in Kentucky.

Tricia Derges leaves the Federal Courthouse with her attorneys after being found guilty of 22 counts, including wire fraud, illegal distribution of controlled substances and making false statements to investigators.
Tricia Derges leaves the Federal Courthouse with her attorneys after being found guilty of 22 counts, including wire fraud, illegal distribution of controlled substances and making false statements to investigators.

More: Missouri lawmaker Tricia Derges found guilty of wire fraud, illegal prescriptions, lying to feds

According to a spokesperson at the prison, the satellite camp is not connected to the medical aspects of the prison and houses 203 inmates. The prison contains 1,289 inmates between the medical center and satellite camp.

Derges, 65, resigned from the Missouri House of Representatives days after a jury found her guilty following a two-week trial at the federal courthouse in Springfield. She was elected in November 2020 as a Republican.

During her sentencing hearing, Derges apologized but stopped short of taking full responsibility, saying the mistakes she made in this case were made "unknowingly" and without criminal intent. Judge Wimes said she did not display "any level of contrition."

"You can't take that next step to own it," Wimes said.

Wimes acknowledged Derges had performed many good deeds in her life but said he could not be certain she would not re-offend and wanted a prison sentence to serve as a deterrent.

"This is just a betrayal of public trust," Wimes said.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Former MO Rep Patricia Derges reports to federal prison in Kentucky