A Charlotte woman has been found guilty of a massive Medicaid scheme that attempted to defraud the program of $4.8 million in fake claims for mental and behavioral health services. Rodnisha Sade Cannon, 26, pleaded guilty to health care fraud conspiracy, aggravated identity theft, and money laundering conspiracy charges in U.S. District Court. The scheme, which occurred from 2010 to 2012, involved Cannon and her co-conspirators operating after-school and summer childcare programs in Gastonia and Shelby, N.C. They used the Medicaid provider numbers assigned to other companies and individual therapists for all therapy services supposedly provided at their programs, regardless of whether those companies and individuals actually provided the claimed services. In many instances, the claimed mental and behavioral health services were never provided at all.

According to court documents, Cannon was not licensed or qualified to provide mental and behavioral health services and she was not approved by Medicaid. Instead, she and her co-conspirators stole the identity of Medicaid-approved providers who had some relationship with the programs in order to accomplish the fraud. Cannon admitted that she and her co-conspirators submitted in excess of $4.8 million in false claims to Medicaid. The scheme resulted in payments of over $2.5 million to Cannon and her co-conspirators.

Cannon also pleaded guilty to attempting to sell her 2010 Mercedes-Benz CLS550 in order to prevent law enforcement agents from seizing the vehicle. The vehicle was subject to seizure as part of the investigation into the Medicaid scheme. Court documents indicate that Cannon hired M.B. to work for her company in May 2012 and M.B. worked there for a single day. Cannon stole M.B.’s Medicaid provider information and redirected all Medicaid payments to M.B. to be deposited into a bank account controlled by Cannon and others. Cannon and others then billed claims to Medicaid in excess of $800,000 for services that M.B. never provided, including claims for dates of service before M.B. worked for Cannon and her co-conspirators.

U.S. Attorney Anne M. Tompkins and Attorney General Roy Cooper, who oversees the North Carolina Medicaid Investigations Division (MID), announced the guilty plea. They were joined by other law enforcement officials, including Roger A. Coe, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Charlotte Division, and Jeannine A. Hammett, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI). Derrick Jackson, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations, Atlanta Region, also participated in the announcement.

Cannon will be sentenced at a later date. The case serves as a reminder of the importance of protecting the Medicaid program from fraud and abuse. Law enforcement officials will continue to work to identify and prosecute those who attempt to defraud the program.