McAllen Man Sent to Prison in Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

McALLEN, Texas – An operator of a durable medical equipment (DME) company was ordered to federal prison following his admission of defrauding Medicaid, announced U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick. George Louis Moreno, 59, of McAllen, pleaded guilty Jan. 24, 2018.

Today, U.S. District Judge Micaela Alvarez handed Moreno a 36-month sentence to be immediately followed by three years of supervised release. Moreno was also ordered to pay approximately $1.5 million in restitution to the Texas Medicaid Program. 

Moreno was the owner and operator of MARS DME Inc. located in McAllen. From August 2008 to January 2016, Moreno submitted numerous false and fraudulent claims for incontinence supplies, resulting in approximately $1.5 million loss to Medicaid. Specifically, Moreno submitted claims for incontinence supplies that were not delivered to beneficiaries. In many instances, Moreno billed Medicaid for large quantities of higher-reimbursing incontinence supplies, when in fact the company was delivering smaller quantities of inexpensive supplies to recipients. Moreno also paid cash to some beneficiaries in lieu of delivering supplies.

Moreno was permitted to remain on bond and voluntarily surrender Jan. 2, 2019.

The Texas Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Department of Health and Human Services‐Office of Inspector General, FBI and Texas health and Human Services Commission conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney (AUSA) Andrew Swartz and Special AUSA Marian Swanberg are prosecuting the case.