Mary Ellis, Medicare Fraud, Texas 2011
Two Houston-area nurses have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a $5.2 million Medicare fraud scheme.
Mary Ellis, a 56-year-old licensed vocational nurse, was sentenced to 63 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release and was ordered to pay $401,000 in restitution. Ellis was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay kickbacks, three counts of receiving illegal kickbacks and two counts of making false statements following a May 2011 trial.
Caroline Njoku, also a 46-year-old licensed vocational nurse, was sentenced to 63 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release and was ordered to pay $631,295 in restitution. Njoku was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of conspiracy to pay kickbacks following a May 2011 trial.
The scheme involved Family Healthcare Group, a Houston home health care company, which purported to provide skilled nursing to Medicare beneficiaries. According to the evidence presented at trial, the company paid Ellis, Njoku, and other co-conspirators to recruit Medicare beneficiaries for the purpose of filing claims with Medicare for skilled nursing that was medically unnecessary and/or not provided.
The sentences were announced by Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division; U.S. Attorney Kenneth Magidson of the Southern District of Texas; Special Agent-In-Charge Stephen L. Morris of the FBI’s Houston Field Office; Special Agent-in-Charge Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of HHS’s Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU).
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorney Charles D. Reed and Deputy Chief Sam S. Sheldon of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was investigated by the FBI, HHS-OIG, Texas OAG-MFCU and the Federal Railroad Retirement Board-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
Key Facts
- State: Federal
- Category: Healthcare Fraud
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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