Christopher J. Spencer, Home Health Care Fraud, Missouri 2023

A St. Louis man was sentenced for his role in a home health care fraud scheme, in which he used his brother's identity to obtain money from the Missouri Medicaid Program.

Christopher J. Spencer, 46, was sentenced to six months of incarceration and six months of house arrest by U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark.

Spencer was ordered to repay $56,173 to Missouri's Medicaid Program.

The scheme involved Spencer submitting false statements from June 2018 to February 2022 in connection with claims for Medicaid-reimbursed personal care assistance services.

Spencer's brother, who lived with him at the time, had provided him with personal care services, which can include housekeeping, meals, bathing, grooming, and transportation.

After his brother moved out in 2018, Spencer continued to submit time sheets and Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) records falsely claiming that his brother was providing care for him.

Spencer also submitted enrollment paperwork to the Medicaid vendor listing his brother as his personal care attendant and containing his brother's forged signature.

He kept the debit card used by the Missouri Medicaid Program and its vendors to reimburse his brother and spent the fraudulently-obtained payments on bills, rent, groceries, shopping, hotels, and other personal expenses.

Spencer pleaded guilty in March to five counts of making false statements relating to health care benefits.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmo/pr/st-louis-man-sentenced-home-health-care-fraud