�����Ƶ

Hatfield entered a guilty plea before a federal judge on May 30, 2024, and was sentenced Thursday during a hearing in U.S. District Court in Charleston.

U.S. District Judge Irene C. Berger said this proved a difficult case to determine a sentence for when weighing the severity of the crime against Hatfield�����Ƶ�s otherwise clean record; however, she noted Hatfield used his positions in the town to build trust with the community, which was then broken.

Berger said grand jury testimony revealed that Hatfield continued to ensure payments to his real estate company were made while financial obligations at the hospital lapsed, leading to the loss of employee health insurance in addition to other issues. While she said it was likely the hospital�����Ƶ�s bankruptcy was imminent regardless, Hatfield�����Ƶ�s actions did not help.

Before being sentenced, a tearful Hatfield said he wanted to express how sorry he is for putting an undue burden on a lot of people, as well as damaging personal relationships. He said hee wished there was more he could do.

According to an information filing in the U.S. District Court for Southern West Virginia from April 29, 2024, Hatfield from on or about May 1, 2019, to Oct. 1, 2019, �����Ƶ�did knowingly embezzle, steal, obtain by fraud, and otherwise without authority knowingly convert to the use of any person other than the rightful owner, and intentionally misapplied�����Ƶ� property of Williamson Memorial Hospital.

During the plea agreement hearing in May, Hatfield said there were two instances of transactions from one of the Williamson Memorial Hospital accounts to his personal account �����Ƶ� a May 2019 transfer of $9,197.62 to satisfy a lawsuit in Florida for delinquent taxes and other fees on a condo property, and another transfer in September 2019 of $25,675 to pay for delinquent mortgages and other fees on property local to Williamson.

Specifically, the informational filing claims Hatfield misapplied approximately $34,872.62 from Medicare and Medicaid health care programs and �����Ƶ�knowingly converted them without authority to his own use and the use of his company, Mid Mountain Properties.�����Ƶ� Hatfield said in court he used one of the three bank accounts the hospital had for these personal transactions, and that account happened to be the one where Medicare and Medicaid payments were received.

Williamson Memorial Hospital filed for bankruptcy on Oct. 21, 2019, before closing its doors on April 21, 2020 �����Ƶ� just one month into the COVID-19 pandemic. It was noted during the plea agreement hearing that at the time of the second transaction in September 2019 Hatfield was aware the hospital could not fund its employee benefit programs and retirement due to financial hardship. The hospital initially announced the impending closure back in March 2020, according to HD Media coverage from the time, and said they were operating as a debtor-in-possession in a bankruptcy case in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of West Virginia.

Hatfield resigned as mayor of Williamson on May 3, 2024. He stated at the time he was not forced to resign, but did it out of the best interest to the city.

Berger said this resignation showed Hatfield taking responsibility for his crimes.