A Houston doctor has been arrested on charges related to her alleged participation in a $158 million Medicare fraud scheme involving false claims for mental health treatment.
Sharon Iglehart, 56, of Houston, was charged in an indictment, filed in the Southern District of Texas and unsealed today, with one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and four counts of healthcare fraud.
If convicted, Iglehart faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison on each count.
Iglehart was arrested on Dec. 16, 2013, and made her initial appearance in federal court in Houston today.
According to the indictment, Iglehart allegedly participated in a scheme to defraud Medicare beginning in 2005 and continuing until May 2012.
The defendant allegedly caused the submission of false and fraudulent claims for partial hospitalization program (PHP) services to Medicare through a Houston hospital.
A PHP is a form of intensive outpatient treatment for severe mental illness.
The indictment alleges that the defendant and her co-conspirators submitted or caused to be submitted approximately $158 million in claims to Medicare for PHP services purportedly provided by the hospital, when in fact the PHP services were medically unnecessary or never provided.
Acting Assistant Attorney General Mythili Raman 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 the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit (MFCU) made the announcement.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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Key Facts
- State: Texas
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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