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Federal prosecutors say a Stafford County resident used phony credentials to improperly inspect mammography machines and other diagnostic equipment at dozens of East Coast hospitals for 15 years.
Locally, those facilities include Culpeper Regional Hospital and Culpeper Outpatient Center; Fauquier Hospital and Warrenton Professional Center; Kaiser Permanente in Woodbridge; Prince William Hospital in Manassas; and Northern Virginia Radiology & Nuclear Medicine in Woodbridge.
But a review of Perry Beale's work at more than 50 hospitals and medical centers in five states and the District of Columbia found there were enough checks in the system to have prevented the machines from endangering anyone.
"Based on current information, Mr. Beale's activities posed no health risk to mammography patients," said Dr. Charles Finder, associate director of the Food and Drug Administration's Division of Mammography Quality and Radiation Programs. "Therefore, these patients do not need to take any action as a result."
Beale was charged with 38 counts of mail fraud after federal investigators discovered that he falsified inspection reports and miscalibrated radiation equipment while working as a private safety consultant in Virginia, Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.
Beale, who was suspended by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2002, claimed on a resume that he was certified by the American Board of Radiology and that he had received a master's degree from the University of Virginia in radiologic technology, nuclear medicine and radiological physics.
Authorities said that when Beale was confronted, he acknowledged he didn't have any of those credentials.
"We know now that Perry Beale was a fraud," U.S. Attorney John L. Brownlee said yesterday at a Charlottesville news conference.
Beale turned himself in to authorities yesterday morning and was later released on a $25,000 bond. His lawyer, Richard Milnor, did not return a phone call to his office seeking comment.
According to public records, Beale sold a home in Stafford's Seven Lakes subdivision in May and bought another residence in the county. Attempts to reach Beale at his home were unsuccessful last night.
Prosecutors said he began working in 1988 as an apprentice to a medical physicist and radiation safety officer in Maryland. When his mentor died two years later, Beale decided to continue working on his own.
"Rather than returning to school and obtaining the required educational requirements, Beale falsified his resume and transcripts and held himself out as a certified medical physicist," Brownlee said.
Beale's story began unraveling in 2001, when the NRC, which regulates the use of radioactive materials, noticed problems with his work and took a closer look at data at several hospitals.
The agency concluded that Beale had faked tests used to determine unhealthy radiation levels in hospital rooms in the event of a spill of the radioactive gas xenon, which is used to create images of lungs.
"We kept pulling the string until we found out what was going on," said Andy Miller, an NRC inspector.
Since his 2002 suspension, federal investigators say Beale also:
Wrote inspection reports from home and gave mammography machines passing scores without visiting the facilities.
Certified a fluoroscopy machine at Warren Memorial Hospital in Luray as being fully operational when it was actually taken out of service and used for spare parts.
Said sealed sources of radiation at City Hospital in Martinsburg, W.Va., were present when they actually had been disposed of years before.
Brownlee said some of the more well-known facilities where Beale worked included the George Washington University Medical Center, Georgetown University Radiology Associates in Washington, and the Central Intelligence Agency's Office of Medical Services in Langley.
FDA's Finder emphasized that after safety officers like Beale inspect the radiation dosages, FDA inspectors and an accreditation body follow with their own check.
He conceded that these subsequent checks would not have stopped someone from suffering an inordinate amount of radiation because of Beale's faulty inspections, "but in this case, it didn't happen."
The U.S. Attorney's Office said anyone with questions about whether they underwent testing on a machine inspected by Beale can call a toll-free number, 866/737-0710, for more information.
An answering-machine message linked to the toll-free number directs callers to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Virginia Web site at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/vaw for additional, specific information related to Beale's case.
Callers can leave their name, phone number and a message. The message tells callers an agent from the office will contact them in the near future.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.