ST. LOUIS – A trio of women from St. Louis County, Missouri, have made a plea deal with federal prosecutors, admitting to a health care fraud scheme that bilked the Missouri Medicaid program out of $552,659.
Doriann Morgan, 58, of St. Louis County, Thalisa Walton, 46, of Hazelwood, and Barbara Jackson, 59, of St. Louis, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud in separate hearings in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.
According to court documents, the trio conspired to submit fake reimbursement claims to the Missouri Medicaid program for personal care services that were never provided between January 2018 and August 2021.
The scheme involved Jackson, who was business manager at A Mother’s Touch In-Home Care LLC, recruiting clients and assigning employees to provide care, while Morgan, the company’s owner, submitted Medicaid claims. Walton served as office manager.
As part of the plea agreement, the women admitted to submitting false claims for services purportedly provided to a woman who did not live in Missouri and received no services. They also submitted claims for services provided at times when their own social media posts showed them doing something else.
In a separate civil settlement, Morgan, Walton, and Jackson agreed to pay $910,000 to resolve allegations that they violated the False Claims Act by billing Missouri Medicaid using false timesheets and payroll records for in-home services that were never provided.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case, with Assistant U.S. Attorneys Suzanne Moore and Derek Wiseman prosecuting the case.
The women are scheduled to be sentenced on August 26 and face up to 10 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.
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Key Facts
- State: Missouri
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Fraud & Financial Crimes
- Source: Official Source ↗
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