Medicare scheme nets New Orleans woman prison term, $200,000 in penalties
A 56-year-old New Orleans woman was ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution, give up $100,000 she obtained via criminal acts, and serve 10 months in prison following her Medicare fraud conviction, according to a sentence imposed Thursday by a U.S. district judge in Baton Rouge.
Demetrias Temple, of New Orleans, and her co-defendant, Ahaoma Boniface Ohia, were convicted for their roles in a scheme to submit fake Medicare claims through Ohia's company, All-Star Medical Supplies, which operated in Baton Rouge and Houston.
Acting U.S. Attorney Corey R. Amundson said Temple assisted Ohia's fraud scheme by recruiting beneficiaries in the New Orleans area and providing their personal information to Ohia, who would submit the fake claims. Temple admitted that Ohia would give her payments based on the number of people she recruited.
Amundson said hundreds of fraudulent cases were submitted while the scheme took place in 2007 through 2009.
Ohia was sentenced in 2014 to 13 years in prison and ordered to make $1.2 million in restitution.
Read more: http://www.theadvocate.com/article_bc16b67e-368d-11e7-8e20-5b112e75daaa.html