Gwendolyn Gibbs, 72, the owner of a Houston-area mental health clinic, has been sentenced to 84 months in federal prison for orchestrating a $15 million Medicare fraud and kickback scheme.
In a hearing, U.S. District Judge Charles R. Eskridge ordered Gibbs to serve 84 months in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release. The court also ordered Gibbs to pay $8,680,380.42 in restitution to Medicare.
Gibbs pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud on December 3, 2021. The scheme, which lasted from 2007 to 2016, involved Gibbs submitting fraudulent claims for partial hospitalization program (PHP) services to Medicare that were not provided or not medically necessary.
The PHP services, a form of intensive outpatient treatment for severe mental illness, were not required for patients, including those with intellectual disabilities, at Gibbs’ clinic, Daybreak Rehabilitation Center. Gibbs admitted to falsifying medical records to make it appear that patients were sicker than they actually were.
Gibbs also paid kickbacks to owners of group homes and patient recruiters in exchange for referring Medicare beneficiaries to Daybreak. The owners of the group homes required their residents to attend Daybreak, and in exchange, Gibbs and her co-conspirators provided transportation, supervision, and meals to the group home residents.
Charles Guidry Jr., 70, a manager at Daybreak and Gibbs’ ex-husband, was previously sentenced to 70 months imprisonment followed by three years of supervised release. Gibbs will remain in custody pending transfer to a U.S. Bureau of Prisons facility.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI, Department of Health and Human Services – Office of the Inspector General, Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the Railroad Retirement Board-OIG. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kathryn Olson and Michael Day prosecuted the case.
“Gwendolyn Gibbs exploited vulnerable adults with intellectual disabilities and residents of group homes in order to defraud Medicare of millions of dollars,” said U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani. “Public resources for mental health services should go to the patients that actually need them, not to enrich criminal actors like Gibbs.”
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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