Virginia Man Gets 19 Months in Medicare Swindle

A Virginia man has been slammed with 19 months behind bars for his role in a $525,000 Medicare fraud scheme that preyed on low-income seniors across New Jersey. Kenneth Johnson, 39, of Lorton, Virginia, admitted to conspiring to commit health care fraud and unlawfully accessing personally identifiable information, part of a wider scam run through the sham nonprofit The Good Samaritans of America.

Johnson’s co-defendant, Sheila Kahl, 47, of Ocean County, was sentenced to 13 months in prison on May 14, 2019, while ringleader Seth Rehfuss, 44, of Somerset, New Jersey, drew 50 months on May 10, 2019. All pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Anne E. Thompson, who handed down the sentences in Trenton.

Federal prosecutors say Rehfuss used The Good Samaritans of America as a front to gain entry into senior housing complexes, where he pressured hundreds of elderly residents into submitting to unauthorized genetic testing. He falsely claimed the tests were free and medically necessary, using fear tactics—warning seniors they were at high risk for heart attacks, stroke, cancer, and even suicide if they refused.

Rehfuss, posing as a community outreach worker, hid that he was actually a lab sales rep collecting commissions. He recruited corrupt health care providers through Craigslist ads, paying them thousands per month to sign off on tests they never reviewed. Johnson, Kahl, and others created fake office contacts and phone numbers to make it appear these doctors were involved in patient care.

The fraud generated over $525,000 in false claims paid by Medicare to two clinical labs. The conspirators split more than $100,000 in lab commissions. They were actively plotting to expand the scam into Georgia, Delaware, Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Michigan, Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, and Arizona when investigators shut it down.

In addition to prison, Judge Thompson ordered Johnson to serve three years of supervised release and pay $525,000 in restitution and forfeiture. The investigation was led by HHS-OIG, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey, and Cape May County’s Department of Aging and Disability Services. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Danielle Alfonzo Walsman, Bernard J. Cooney, and Sara F. Merin.

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