Owner of Virginia Company Pleads Guilty to $2.8 Million Medicaid Fraud

RICHMOND, Va. – A Texas woman pleaded guilty today to defrauding the Virginia Medicaid Program out of more than $2.8 million.

According to court documents, Katrina Lynch, 39, of Cypress, owned and operated A Tender Heart, LLC, a company based in Midlothian. A Tender Heart was enrolled with the Virginia Medicaid Program as a Service Facilitator, a Medicaid provider that ensures Medicaid recipients receive needed and required services. Between 2011 and 2018, Lynch routinely submitted bills to Medicaid for services that her company never provided. For example, Lynch submitted bills to Medicaid for services supposedly provided to Medicaid recipients that had died, recipients that were hospitalized, recipients that transferred to other Service Facilitators, and recipients that had not been visited by any company employees for months. 

Lynch pleaded guilty to one count of health care fraud, and faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison when sentenced on December 1. Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after taking into account the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

G. Zachary Terwilliger, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia; and David W. Archey, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after U.S. District Judge David J. Novak accepted the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Lee Martin is prosecuting the case.

A copy of this press release is located on the website of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia. Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACER by searching for Case No. 3:19-cr-174.