TYLER — Two men have been sentenced to federal prison and ordered to pay restitution for their roles in a health care fraud scheme. According to U.S. Attorney John M. Bales, Jasper Ogbonna, 42, of Newark, Delaware, pleaded guilty last September to health care fraud and was sentenced to 21 months in federal prison and. He was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $822,411.44. Tony Ahi, 54, of Toronto, Canada, pleaded guilty in December to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison. He was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $969,516.25. The sentencing hearings were held yesterday before U.S. District Judge Michael H. Schneider.
On June 30, 2009, a federal grand jury returned a twenty-one count indictment charging Ogbonna, the owner of a West Virginia medical supply company, with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and aggravated identity theft.
On January 6, 2010, a federal grand jury returned a forty-one count superseding indictment charging Ogbonna, Anthony Nnadi, Kevin Onwudiwe, Ahi, and Emmanuel Gabriels with conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Ogbonna, Nnadi, and Onwudiwe were also charged with health care fraud and aggravated identity theft. The grand jury returned a second superseding indictment on March 3, 2010.
According to the indictment, from August 2005 through April 2008, Ogbonna controlled and operated Matrix Medical Equipment and Supplies, Inc. in Weirton, West Virginia, and Nnadi controlled and operated Nicco Medical Services, LLC in Little Rock, Arkansas. Nnadi was assisted in the operation of Nicco Medical Services by Onwudiwe and Ahi. Both companies purportedly did business providing durable medical equipment to Medicare beneficiaries. During that time, Ogbonna, Nnadi, Onwudiwe, Ahi, Gabriels, and their co-conspirators devised and carried out a scheme to defraud Medicare through the marketing of “ortho kits,” which consisted of a bag of orthotic items such as braces, wraps, and supports.
As part of the scheme, the defendants and their co-conspirators illegally obtained protected Medicare beneficiary health information, including names, dates of birth, and Medicare and Social Security numbers from elderly individuals. Approximately 509 Medicare beneficiaries in Texas and Louisiana were supplied with “ortho kits” which were not prescribed or authorized by a physician and which were not wanted by the beneficiaries. In many instances, physicians’ signatures were forged and false claims were submitted to Medicare in the names of Medicare beneficiaries who were deceased. Using protected health information, the defendants and their co-conspirators billed between $4,850 and $6,550 for each “ortho kit”, causing the submission of false and fraudulent claims to Medicare of more than $2.8 million. As a result of these claims, the defendants and their co-conspirators unlawfully obtained more than $1million from Medicare.
“Today’s sentencing marks the end of only a single battle in the ongoing war against those who purposely attack the financial integrity of the Medicare program,” said Special Agent in Charge Mike Fields of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General’s (OIG) Dallas Regional Office. “HHS-OIG, along with our state and federal law enforcement partners, is committed to protecting the
Medicare program and its beneficiaries.”
NOONDAY — A two story house near Noonday was engulfed by flames late Tuesday night. Firefighters say the house, located on Bayshore Drive off Highway 155, was already half-way destroyed by the time they arrived. Everyone inside the house escaped without injuries. Officials say the absence of fire hydrants around the house made fighting the fire extremely challenging. Noonday fire chief, Howard Harris said, “We don’t have any hydrants so we had to shuttle all our water. I think we had about seven different departments shuttling water for us tonight.”
