UMass worker who died in crash had stolen $3.4M

WORCESTER, Mass. >> Officials at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have discovered a $3.4 million theft by an employee who died in a December car accident.

School leaders told The Boston Globe an internal investigation found that for five years financial analyst Leo Villani siphoned funds from payments intended for the state Medicaid insurance program. It may be the biggest theft by a state employee in more than a decade.

Officials at the Worcester school say Villani made $46,000 a year, but drove a Porsche, collected Salvador Dali paintings and built a large home in Uxbridge. They say he claimed he inherited money.

The school has dismissed one supervisor and disciplined several other workers in response to the theft. It also has called in an outside auditor.