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McKinney Man Sentenced to 48 Months for Healthcare Fraud
Plano, TX – Demetrius Cervantes, a 46-year-old McKinney man, has been sentenced to 48 months in federal prison for his role in a healthcare fraud scheme, announced Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei today.
Cervantes pleaded guilty on December 4, 2020, to conspiracy to obtain information from a protected computer and was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sean D. Jordan. He was charged alongside Amanda Lowry and Lydia Henslee in a federal indictment on September 11, 2019.
According to the indictment, Cervantes, Lowry, and Henslee breached a healthcare provider’s electronic health record system to steal protected health information and personally identifiable information belonging to patients. The stolen information was then ‘repackaged’ in the form of false and fraudulent physician orders and sold to durable medical equipment (DME) providers and contractors.
The defendants obtained more than $1.4 million in proceeds from the sale of the stolen information, which they used to purchase items such as sport utility vehicles, off-road vehicles, and jet skis.
Lowry pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obtain information from a protected computer and is set to be sentenced on July 22, 2021. Henslee was charged in a separate superseding indictment alongside Steven Churchill, Samson Solomon, David Warren, and Daniel Stadtman with conspiracy to commit illegal remunerations.
According to the superseding indictment, the defendants conspired to pay and receive kickbacks in exchange for orders from physicians that were subsequently used to obtain payments from federal healthcare programs. The conspirators obtained patient information, including protected health information and personally identifiable information, and used the information to create fictitious physician orders.
The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits offering, paying, soliciting, or receiving remuneration to induce referrals of items or services covered by federally funded programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, and TRICARE. If convicted, the defendants each face up to five years in federal prison.
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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