Former Dept. of Mental Health Chief of Communications charged with embezzlement

OKLAHOMA CITY (KOKH) — A former Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services employee is now facing a charge of embezzlement.

Heath Hayes, who served as the Chief of Communication for the state agency for nearly three years before advancing to its Deputy Commissioner in October 2023, was charged with one count of embezzlement Monday.

Hayes was also a board member for the agency’s foundation, Healthy Minds Healthy Lives.

According to an affidavit, Hayes had access to the foundation’s credit union account.

Court documents show an internal investigation into Hayes began in January 2024. During the investigation, the CFO of ODMHSAS discovered unexplained transactions on the foundation’s credit union account.

The affidavit lists these unexplained transactions:

• $17,386 dated 1/3/2024 and endorsed by Heath, mobile deposited into a Bluevine account
• $3,000 cash withdrawal on 1/5/2024 signed by Heath
• $125,000 cashier’s check dated 1/8/2024, endorsed by Heath and deposited into a Bluevine account

The affidavit says that when confronted, Heath did not deny the transactions, but “made up excuses”. The affidavit alleges Heath resigned in lieu of being fired from the state agency, and paid back everything except a few dollars.

After his resignation, the affidavit says a donor came forward concerned their $5,000 donation had not reached the Healthy Minds Healthy Lives foundation. After investigating, it was found the donation, in the form of a check, was signed by Heath and deposited into a Bluevine account.

The affidavit said there was a missing $20,000 donation from June 2023, a missing $10,000 donation from November 2023 from the Arnall family that “appears to have been sent to Hayes” home address, and a missing $2,500 donation from January 2024.

“Since Heath had authorization to accept donations, there was concern he took these and possibly other donations,” the affidavit concludes.

Investigators say they obtained Bluevine account records for the foundation with Heath Hayes listed as the owner.

“These records contradicted the fake bank statements provided by Heath to the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services,” the affidavit reads.

The affidavit states that the records show amounts matching the cashier’s checks and that three of the four were missing donations. Debits from the account appeared to be for personal use and transferred to other accounts in Hayes’ name, court records allege.