Fourteen defendants in Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston are facing charges in connection with unrelated schemes to defraud the federal government of more than $100 million in fake Medicare billings.
Twelve people from Arlington, Dallas, Grand Prairie, Rowlett, Irving and Houston were arrested Thursday on various charges stemming from their roles in several healthcare fraud conspiracies, the U.S. attorney's office announced. Two additional defendants, both North Texas physicians named in the indictments, were already in federal custody.The arrests and indictments are part of an operation in which 91 people, including an unidentified hospital president, doctors and nurses, were charged with Medicare fraud schemes in seven cities involving $429 million in false billings, The Associated Press reported.At a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder said the case reveals an alarming trend in criminal efforts to steal billions of taxpayer dollars.Holder called the action one of the largest such law enforcement efforts of its kind.Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that in addition to the newly announced criminal charges, her agency used new authority under the Obama administration's healthcare law to stop future payments to many healthcare providers suspected of fraud.Locally, Joseph Megwa, 58, of Arlington is accused of performing unnecessary home visits and ordering unnecessary medical services for Medicare beneficiaries he had certified for home health, according to an indictment. Megwa owned and operated Raphem Medical Practice in Arlington.From 2006 to 2011, Megwa signed about 33,000 prescriptions for more than 2,000 Medicare beneficiaries for home health services provided by more than 230 home health agencies. In that time, he billed about $10 million to Medicare for unnecessary home visits and unnecessary medical services through Raphem, the indictment says.The indictment also alleges that he submitted claims for services he rendered at beneficiaries' homes while he was out of the country. Two registered nurses, Ferguson Ikhile, 54, of Irving and Ebolose Eghobor, 47, of Grand Prairie, who were associated with PTM Healthcare Services, a home healthcare agency, are each charged with one count of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and three counts of healthcare fraud arising from their association with a home health agency.From Jan. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2010, PTM submitted about $4.8 million in claims to Medicare for services to Medicare beneficiaries that had been certified by Megwa, regardless of whether patients needed the services, the indictment says.In another scheme, Ovsanna Agopian, 57, of Houston operated the Euless Healthcare Corp., 222 W. Euless Road, in Hurst. Agopian, along with employees Tolulope Labeodan, 27, of Dallas and Leslie Omagbemi, 56, and Godwin Umotong, 58, both of Houston, billed Medicare for examinations and diagnostic testing that were never performed, an indictment says.Agopian also operated Medic Healthcare in Houston. Euless Healthcare and Medic employees tried to defraud Medicare by visiting beneficiaries' homes to take vital signs or ask about prescriptions but did not perform tests or examinations that were later billed to Medicare, according to the indictment.Euless Healthcare billed Medicare more than $797,000 and was paid more than $363,000, and Medic billed more than $2 million and received more than $1 million from Medicare, the indictment says.Another indictment charges Pamela Adenuga, 38, and her husband, Kahinde Adenuga, 45, both of Arlington, with submitting claims for equipment that was either not provided or not prescribed.This report includes material from The Associated Press.Mitch Mitchell,817-390-7752Twitter: @mitchmitchel3Have more to add? News tip? Tell us
