Couple used COVID money and other aid to buy ‘lavish’ home and properties, feds say
An Arizona couple faces charges after investigators say they fraudulently used millions in federal money to buy several properties.
Dale Henson and his wife, Zoila Henson — both age 53 and residents of Chandler — were arrested last week. They face 58 counts of charges including healthcare fraud, wire fraud, money laundering and aggravated identity theft.
From Aug. 2019 to April 2020, the pair is accused of defrauding the Arizona Health Care Cost and Containment System, which is majority federally funded, out of $1.2 million by submitting fraudulent medical bills from their company, the U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Arizona says in a news release.
The Hensons also applied for the COVID Economic Injury Disaster Loan for two of their businesses and lied about their company incomes, the indictment shows. They are accused of planning to use the $150,000 they received to help buy a $1 million home in Mexico.
“An analysis of the Hensons’ bank accounts reveals millions of dollars flowing through the accounts over the past 2-3 years, all or most of which are believed to be proceeds from their fraudulent activity,” court documents say.
Attorneys for both parties did not immediately respond Monday to a request for comment from McClatchy News.
Their alleged scheme began after they were hired by a mental health clinic in Mesa to take care of their medical billing, according to the indictment .
For nine months, the couple is accused of billing the health care program for low-income Arizona residents for services patients never received. And they used patients’ identities without their permission, according to court documents.
Then they bought a “lavish” home in Gilbert for $1.3 million in June of 2020, investigators said, using some of the money collected from the health care program.
Along with a home in Gilbert and Mexico, the Hensons also bought five other residential and commercial properties across the Phoenix metro area, a detention memo shows.
All properties were recently sold and state authorities are holding the funds “pending forfeiture,” court documents say.
The husband and wife married in 2015. The marriage granted permanent legal residency for Zoila Henson, who is originally from Mexico and still holds citizenship there. Prosecutors say their frequent trips and ties to Mexico raised them as a flight risk.
If convicted, they could face two years of mandatory prison time for aggravated identity theft and an estimated 10 to 12 years in prison for the other charges.
A sentencing date has not been released yet.
This story was originally published August 24, 2021 at 10:39 AM with the headline "Couple used COVID money and other aid to buy ‘lavish’ home and properties, feds say."
