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California Pastor Sentenced to 36 Months in Prison for $14.2 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme
LOS ANGELES, California – In a shocking case of church corruption, Connie Ikpoh, a 49-year-old former Los Angeles church pastor, has been sentenced to 36 months in prison for her role in a $14.2 million Medicare fraud scheme.
According to a press release from the US District Judge Terry J. Hatter for the Central District of California, Ikpoh was also ordered to pay $6.7 million in restitution jointly and severally with her co-conspirators.
In August 2011, a jury found Ikpoh, a nurse who also worked at two Los Angeles-area hospitals, and her husband, Christopher Iruke, 61, and one of their employees, Aura Marroquin, guilty of conspiracy and health care fraud offenses following a two-week trial in Los Angeles.
The trial evidence showed that Ikpoh and Iruke were pastors at Arms of Grace Christian Center, a Los Angeles church where Ikpoh and Iruke also operated Pascon Medical Supply, a fraudulent DME supply company. Ikpoh and Iruke hired several church members at Arms of Grace to assist them with running Pascon and three other fraudulent DME supply companies.
The trial evidence also showed that Ikpoh used fraudulent prescriptions and documents to bill Medicare for expensive, high-end power wheelchairs and orthotics that were medically unnecessary or never provided. Each power wheelchair cost approximately $900 per wholesale, but were billed to Medicare at a rate of approximately $6,000 per wheelchair.
Ikpoh and Iruke hid the money they used to pay for these fraudulent prescriptions by writing checks to a company called “Direct Supply,” a fictitious company that Iruke created in the name of an Arms of Grace church member. Iruke cashed the checks that he and Ikpoh wrote to Direct Supply and used the money to purchase the fraudulent prescriptions.
The trial evidence showed that Ikpoh submitted more than $3.2 million in claims to Medicare, and Medicare paid Ikpoh more than $1.6 million on these claims. Witnesses who worked at Horizon testified that if Medicare refused to pay Horizon for a power wheelchair, Ikpoh required the witnesses to take back the power wheelchairs from the Medicare beneficiaries.
The case is a stark reminder of the devastating consequences of Medicare fraud and the importance of holding perpetrators accountable for their crimes.
Defendant’s Name: Connie Ikpoh
Crime: Conspiracy and Health Care Fraud Offenses
City and State: Los Angeles, California
Exact Date: August 2011
Sentence: 36 months in prison and $6.7 million in restitution
Dollar Amounts: $14.2 million in Medicare fraud scheme and $6.7 million in restitution
Companies: Pascon Medical Supply, Horizon Medical Equipment and Supply Inc., Contempo Medical Equipment Inc., and Ladera Medical Equipment Inc.
Key Facts
- State: California
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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