ABINGDON, VA—A mother and daughter who operated a business that provided oversight to personal care aides caring for elderly and disabled individuals, were sentenced earlier this week in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Abingdon on healthcare fraud charges.

Connie Robbins, 59, of Sugar Grove, Va. and Stephanie Dawn Robbins, 37, of Marion, Va., both previously waived their rights to be indicted and pled guilty to one-count Informations charging them each with conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. On Monday, September 14, 2015, Connie Robbins was sentenced to one year and one day in prison. Stephanie Robbins was sentenced to two years of probation, 200 hours of community service and three months of home confinement. The defendants were ordered to repay Virginia Medicaid $137,106 in total restitution.

According to evidence presented at a previous guilty plea hearing by Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant United States Attorney Janine Myatt, Stephanie and Connie Robbins operated Robbins CD Services, a Consumer Directed Service Facilitator (CDSF) service provider. A CDSF is paid by Virginia Medicaid to assist Medicaid recipients who are eligible for a waiver that allows them to avoid moving into a nursing home and instead receive critical care in their homes.

The only two employees at CD Robbins Services were Connie Robbins, a registered nurse, and her daughter, Stephanie Robbins, who served as the office manager. Between October 2008 and August 2013, Connie Robbins created false supporting paperwork that documented home face-to-face visits with patients that never occurred. In her role as office manager, Stephanie Robbins billed Virginia Medicaid for the face-to-face home assessments that she knew never occurred. Approximately 35 percent of the home assessments billed by Robbins CD Services and paid by Medicaid never occurred.

The investigation of the case was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit for the Virginia Office of the Attorney General. Virginia Assistant Attorney General and Special Assistant United States Attorney Janine Myatt is prosecuting the case for the United States.