An illegal alien from Guatemala and two accomplices were sentenced for their roles in a multimillion-dollar organ transplant fraud scheme that exploited federal healthcare programs. Jeremias Otoniel Herrera Rosales, age 37, was handed a 16-month sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud. His co-conspirators, Jennifer Guadalupe Herrera, 43, and Jaklyn Guerra, 52, each received one-month sentences for their involvement.
Herrera Rosales, who entered the United States without legal status, assumed the identity of D.G. Herrera using false documents provided by Guerra and Herrera. Between 2015 and 2020, he fraudulently obtained over $500,000 in Medicare and Minnesota Medicaid benefits under D.G.’s name. He even secured a kidney transplant under this fraudulent guise, leaving another deserving individual without the needed organ.
The trio was sentenced by United States District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand in Sioux City. They were also ordered to pay $510,949.61 in restitution and must serve three years of supervised release after their prison terms. Herrera Rosales is currently in U.S. Marshal’s custody, while Guerra and Herrera await future surrender dates.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Timothy L. Vavricek and Ronald Timmons and investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Social Security Administration. The court file number is 23-CR-4062, and more information can be found at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.
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Key Facts
- State: Iowa
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking|Fraud & Financial Crimes|Organized Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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