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The former leader of a company that manages health care payment contracts for Washington clinics, including in the Tri-Cities, has been sentenced to prison after embezzling more than $30 million.
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Patrick A. Bucknum, 55, the chief executive officer of Community Clinic Network in Wenatchee, was ordered to serve four years and pay back over $24 million.
He previously returned about $7 million of what he took.
Clinics served by the network include the Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic with Miramar Health Centers in Pasco and Kennewick and Valley Vista Medical group in Prosser and also Columbia Basin Health Association with clinics in Pasco, Connell and Othello, according to the network’s website.
“The victims of Bucknum’s embezzlement are the patients of the health clinics who entrusted their funds to his care and the United States taxpayers,” said Pete Serrano, first assistant attorney for the Eastern Washington District U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Unfortunately, these working families, farmworkers, children, seniors and vulnerable individuals, who depend on community health centers across the Eastern District of Washington, will bear the harm of Bucknum’s theft of funds,” Serrano said.
Bucknum took money from Community Clinic Network’s business bank account with the initial intent of investing it and then returning the money to the network as he kept the investment earnings for himself, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Starting in 2017, Bucknum began to move money from network accounts to his personal investment account, and then manipulated financial records to hide the embezzlement, according to a court document.
Tesla, pickup, boat, gold coins
He invested the money in stocks, options and exchange-traded funds, relying on aggressive, highly leveraged strategies that he saw on social media, according to a court documents.
But he made poor trades and his losses quickly mounted, which led him to embezzle more funds to try to recover the losses. He lost most of the money he invested.
Some of that was money he embezzled for personal purchases as his investment losses mounted.
He bought a $77,000 Tesla in 2021, a $100,000 Chevrolet Silverado pickup in 2024 and a $33,000 Cobalt boat plus a trailer in 2024, according to court documents and information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
In 2024, he also used nearly $1.2 million in network funds to buy gold coins for himself, according to a court document. He sold those coins in 2025 at a slight profit and used the money to buy gold, silver and platinum coins.
As part of U.S. Judge Thomas Rice’s sentence, Bucknum is required to forfeit the truck, car, boat, coins and money his bank account.
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Bucknum considered disclosing his embezzlement in 2019, but instead embezzled more than $7 million of additional network funds, including the money for his personal use, according to court documents.
CEO discloses embezzlement
He finally disclosed his embezzlement through an attorney to the Department of Justice in October 2024, the same day he resigned form the network and said he had embezzled $20 million. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud.
His discovery was inevitable given the amount of money taken, “and his disclosure, while commendable, simply served to accelerate the certain discovery of his scheme,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeremy Kelley in a court document.
Court documents point that that his final purchase of coins with embezzled funds was four months after he admitted the crime.
Among tactics Bucknum used to hide the embezzlement from the network’s board was transferring money from what served as the network’s savings account into the network’s checking account.
He knew that the agency’s board was more likely to check the balance in the checking account than the savings account, according to a court document.
Bucknum also electronically altered bank statements and lied to longtime colleagues.
The Community Clinic Network was formed in 2010 to improve quality and cost savings using a risk pool, and Bucknum had relatively unfettered access to the tens of millions of dollars stored with the network, according to a court document.
Some clinics took distributions of shared savings from the network, but others left large balances with the network to use as a rainy day fund. The network invested the money on behalf of the clinics.
The case was investigated by the FBI and prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kelley and Frieda Zimmerman.
Bucknum is sentenced to three years probation after serving his prison term.
This story was originally published September 28, 2026 at 4:51 PM with the headline “WA CEO who embezzled $30M must forfeit Tesla, truck, luxury boat. Next stop prison.”
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