Man agrees never to operate another nursing home

(Oklahoma City-AP) -- A man who admitted to wrongdoing in the state Health Department scandal has agreed never to operate another nursing home.

Richard Pralle permanently surrendered his nursing home administrator's license today.

A state nursing home official says it's the first agreement of its kind in Oklahoma.

The deal means Pralle won't have to go through a formal disciplinary hearing before the full state nursing home administrators' board.

Pralle admitted that he wrote a phony letter to help Wewoka nursing home owner Jim Smart.

The letter was designed to get Smart another 50-thousand dollars in Medicare benefits for his nursing home.

Pralle later testified as a government witness in the federal bribery trial of Smart and former Health Department deputy commissioner Brent VanMeter.