The termination took effect Wednesday after the hospital board discovered Durham pleaded guilty to a Class 3 felony of theft while he was the CEO of Massac Memorial Hospital in Illinois.

Last month, Durham pleaded guilty in the Massac County circuit court to one of three counts of felony theft in connection with unauthorized uses of a hospital credit card and property for personal use. Durham received 24 months of conditional discharge and will not serve jail time. He has already made restitution of nearly $30,000 to the hospital.

The dates of the theft are unclear, but hospital officials speculate it occured between November 2005 and February 2007. The Cooper County board noted in a press release that the board was not aware of any inappropriate conduct by Durham during his tenure at the Boonville hospital from June 2008 until his termination.