MIAMI – A former executive with the Jackson Health Foundation was back in South Florida Wednesday to face fraud and embezzlement charges. She’s accused of pocketing more than a million dollars that was meant for the hospital.
Charmaine Gatlin, 52, was the COO of the foundation, Jackson Health System’s fundraising arm, from 2014 to 2024.
Authorities announced her arrest in May.
She had her rights and charges formally read to her in Miami federal court Wednesday. She did not say one word about allegations that she was stealing money from the medically needy.
She now drives back and forth from her new home in Riceboro, Georgia to face justice.
Gatlin is accused of laundering the millions donated for those in need, like wounded and sick children, who depend on Miami-Dade’s public health safety net.
Authorities say she submitted false invoices to the foundation to pay and then get kickbacks or luxury gifts, including a rose gold golf cart delivered to her former home in Weston.
The indictment lists co-conspirators, including a production company in Atlanta that never produced a million dollars worth for Jackson.
In another instance, prosecutors said there was a phony invoice from a Miami-Dade company listed as first aid kits for Jackson’s trauma burn unit.
The purchase was eventually a Louis Vuitton loop bag. Authorities said they have an email saying, “This is the one she wants.”
The scheme cost the foundation more than $3.5 million and Gatlin received more than $1 million in kickbacks, authorities allege.
Her 10-year tenure at the foundation ended last fall. She was fired when Jackson Health System found that fuzzy math and alerted federal agents.
Gatlin is out on bond and can travel between Georgia and South Florida only for her court appearances.
