Houston Woman Sentenced in $3M Medicare Scheme
A Houston-area resident has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for her role in a $3 million Medicare fraud scheme involving claims of hurricane damage to power wheelchairs.
Paula Whitfield, 43, was sentenced to 21 months in prison by U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. of the Southern District of Texas. She was also ordered to pay $807,781 in restitution and serve three years of supervised release following her prison term.
The scheme, which involved power wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories, and motorized scooters, was uncovered after a week-long trial in April 2010. A federal jury convicted Whitfield of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and one count of health care fraud.
According to evidence presented at trial, Whitfield was a recruiter for Luant & Odera Inc., a durable medical equipment company that was doing business as Tonni Medical Equipment & Supplies. She was paid kickbacks in exchange for providing the company with beneficiaries in whose names bills could be submitted to Medicare.
Whitfield and her co-conspirators submitted false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary DME, including power wheelchairs, wheelchair accessories, and motorized scooters. The claims were submitted under a special code that designated the power wheelchairs as replacements for wheelchairs lost during hurricanes that hit the Houston area in fall 2008.
The scheme was part of a larger Medicare fraud scheme, which has resulted in the indictment of over 810 individuals who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for over $1.85 billion since the inception of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force in March 2007.
The case was tried by Trial Attorneys Sam S. Sheldon and Joseph S. Beemsterboer, with assistance from Assistant Chief John Neal and Trial Attorney Jennifer L. Saulino of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.
Related Federal Cases
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- Jason Jarin, Medicaid Fraud and Illicit Transition Procedures, Texas 2023 · Texas
- Jose Antonio Caballero, Mortgage Fraud Scheme, Texas 2011 · Texas
- Shannon Tecoko Mays, Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud, Texas 2012 · Kansas
- Kenneth Ray Shackelford, Red River Army Depot Fraud, Texas 2007 · Kansas
Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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