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Home Health & Hospice Week

Industry Note:

Home Care LVNs Draw 5-Year Jail Sentences

Published on Fri Feb 24, 2012

Two home care LVNs in Houston have been sentenced to more than five years in prison for convictions related to a home care fraud scheme. Family Healthcare Group's Mary Ellis and Caro-line Njoku also were ordered to pay about $400,000 and $630,000 in restitution, respectively, according to a Department of Justice release. FHG paid Ellis, Njoku and other co-conspirator Florida Holiday Island to recruit Medi-care beneficiaries for services that were medically unnecessary or never provided, prosecutors said at trial. Ellis and Njoku falsified documentation to support the false claims. The sentences are the latest in prosecution of the $5.2 million HHA fraud scheme (see Eli's HCW, Vol. XX, No. 19, p. 147). RN Adelma Casas Sevilla has been sentenced to 18 months.
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