Two months after DHHS Secretary Dempsey Benton asked the SBI to review the purchase of a portrait by former hospital director Patsy Christian, there is no word about when agents might wrap up their investigation.
Tom Lawrence, spokesman for the state Department of Health and Human Services, said Monday that Benton has not yet received any response from investigators, Michael Biesecker reports.
Noelle Talley, spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice, did not respond to inquiries last week about the status of the investigation.
Benton requested the SBI probe May 29, following a report in the N&O about the oil painting Christian commissioned of herself to hang at the new Central Regional Hospital in Butner.
The portrait, which cost a combined $571.98 once installed in a gilded frame, was painted on contract by a state employee who was subordinate to Christian and provided to the state at a steep discount of its proclaimed value.
The SBI was asked to examine the events surrounding the commission and purchase of the portrait to assure that no state laws were violated.
Benton said the state money spent on the portrait, which came from vending machine receipts meant to pay for field trips and other recreation for mental patients, would be recovered and that the painting would never hang in the new hospital.
Lawrence said the painting has been returned to the artist, who is a nurse supervisor at John Umstead Hospital. A check equal to the portrait's cost was deposited into the hospital's account, though Lawrence said he did not know who the check was from.
Christian resigned as the director of Central Regional June 11. She is still on the state payroll in a new administrative position Benton created for her, earning $114,056 annually.
Update: Lawrence said Tuesday that a check reimbursing the state for the cost of the portrait was sent by J. Lee Harris, the artist who painted it. She is also a nurse supervisor at John Umstead Hospital and a former subordinate of Christian's.
Blog RSS feed
