A Shaler couple will stand trial on charges accusing them of keeping insurance money meant to pay ambulance bills.
District Judge Richard G. Opiela on Wednesday, June 24, held Wallace Hodge, 57, and Stacie Hodge, 43, for trial on charges of theft by failure to make required disposition of funds and conspiracy filed by Ross police.
Stacie Hodge also will be tried on a charge of theft of services. Opiela dismissed that charge against Wallace Hodge after his attorney, Jeffrey Wasak, noted he had not used the services provided by Ross/West View EMS.
“This is a matter that is clearly civil,” Wasak said, adding the debt should be in collections.
Stacie Hodge was represented by a public defender, Samantha James. James declined to comment on her client’s behalf.
During their combined preliminary hearing before Opiela on June 24, the Hodges sat at separate tables, each with their own attorney by their side.
Deborah Lowrie, a billing specialist with Ross/West View EMS, testified that Stacie Hodge had been transported eight times between December 2024 and April 2026.
Ross/West View EMS submitted claims to her insurer, Highmark. Because the EMS service is not under contract with Highmark, Highmark sent checks totaling about $10,100 to Stacie Hodge.
No ambulance authorities in the area are under contract with Highmark because, if they were, they would be paid a greatly reduced rate, Lowrie testified.
Stacie Hodge would have received three letters from Ross/West View EMS’s billing company before getting a warning about the debt going to collections, Lowrie testified, but she added they were not sent by certified mail.
Stacie Hodge has made only two $50 payments toward what she owed, Lowrie testified.
Ross police Detective David Sciullo testified that all of the checks from Highmark were deposited into Wallace Hodge’s bank accounts. The checks were endorsed with his signature and Stacie Hodge’s initials.
Sciullo testified that his signature and her initials appeared to be in different handwriting styles, but he conceded he is not a handwriting expert.
Sciullo said he did not know whether Stacie Hodge had any access to her husband’s accounts.
Sciullo testified that when he called Stacie Hodge to arrange for an interview with her, she told him she had used the insurance money to pay other bills. Sciullo said she told him she had just gotten out of the hospital and would call him back when she felt better, but never did.
In arguing unsuccessfully for all of the charges against Stacie Hodge to be dismissed, James said that because the bills were not sent by certified mail, there was no proof she was aware of them or that she had control over the checks.
James said it was not known whether Wallace Hodge had taken the checks and wrote her initials on them without her knowledge.
“Anybody can write an initial on a check,” James said.
Wallace and Stacie Hodge face similar charges from Shaler police, who allege they owe more than $30,000 to Shaler Hampton EMS for 23 transports between Feb. 18, 2025, and Feb. 7, 2026. Their preliminary hearing on those charges is scheduled for Thursday, June 25, before District Judge Daniel Konieczka Jr.
The issue of patients keeping insurance money meant to pay ambulance bills has prompted proposed state legislation.
Senate Bill 1342 and House Bill 1152 would require insurers to provide “fair and direct” reimbursement for mandated 911 emergency medical services regardless of whether the EMS provider is in network.