Leonard Nwafor, Medicare Fraud, California 2008

A Los Angeles man has been sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in a Medicare power wheelchair scam.

Leonard Nwafor, 44, owner and operator of a Los Angeles-area durable medical equipment (DME) company, Pacific City Group Inc., aka Pacific City Medical Equipment, was sentenced to nine years in prison for his involvement in a Medicare power wheelchair fraud scheme.

Nwafor, who fled the jurisdiction after his conviction, was sentenced in absentia by U.S. District Judge John F. Walter of the Central District of California on September 24, 2008.

As part of his sentence, Nwafor was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following his prison term, pay $526,243 in restitution and $25,000 in fines, and forfeit more than $526,000 in stolen Medicare funds to the U.S. government.

The scam, which involved submitting over $1 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare, targeted elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries in the Los Angeles area. Nwafor and his co-conspirators used marketers to approach beneficiaries on the street, at home, or in church, and convinced them to give up their Medicare numbers and other personal information in exchange for free power wheelchairs.

The power wheelchairs, which can be billed to Medicare for up to $7,000 each, were often supplied to beneficiaries who were not able to use them. One beneficiary, a blind man, testified that he could not see to operate the wheelchair and never used it. Another beneficiary testified that a delivery driver working for Nwafor and the delivery driver’s girlfriend paid him $200 to refer them to other Medicare beneficiaries.

Nwafor was convicted at trial in September 2008 of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud. His crimes were uncovered after a lengthy investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, and the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

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