Norma De La Cruz, 81, of Glenview, Illinois, is headed to federal prison for 18 months after admitting to a cash-for-patients kickback scheme that bled Medicare for over $390,000. The owner of TLC Healthcare Services of Illinois Inc. paid recruiters $500 to $600 per Medicare patient referral, then billed the government for services that often never happened. The scheme ran from 2012 to 2014 and was masked by fake marketing contracts designed to disguise bribes as legitimate business expenses.
De La Cruz, a registered nurse at the time, didn’t just run the scam—she bankrolled it. She controlled both company and personal bank accounts used to funnel illegal payments. One recruiter alone pocketed at least $65,000 for steering patients to her Glenview-based operation. Despite her medical credentials, De La Cruz treated Medicare like a personal ATM, exploiting a system meant for care to fuel her own criminal enterprise.
She pleaded guilty last year to one count of conspiracy to offer and pay unlawful kickbacks. On Monday, U.S. District Judge Rebecca R. Pallmeyer handed down the 18-month sentence in federal court in Chicago. Prosecutors argued for stiff punishment, detailing how De La Cruz funneled scheme proceeds into high-stakes gambling. Between 2012 and 2014, she lost $245,000 at Chicago-area casinos—money that should have gone to patient care, not roulette wheels.
Even after being caught and making her initial court appearance in June 2016, De La Cruz didn’t stop gambling. The government revealed she racked up an additional $76,000 in gambling losses before pleading guilty in October 2017. The DOJ called it a pattern of greed and disregard—proof she never intended to reform.
The case was led by John R. Lausch, Jr., U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, alongside FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Jeffrey S. Sallet and Lamont Pugh III, Special Agent-in-Charge of HHS-OIG’s Chicago Region. Trial Attorney Leslie S. Garthwaite of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division Fraud Section and First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joel R. Levin handled prosecution, painting De La Cruz as a calculated fraudster hiding behind a white coat.
Her sentence sends a message: healthcare fraud won’t be tolerated, especially when it’s fueled by greed and gilded by deception. At 81, De La Cruz now trades her Glenview home for a federal cell, the final cost of betting against the law and losing.
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Key Facts
- State: Illinois
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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