Four Home Healthcare Workers Charges with Defrauding Medicaid

St. Louis, MO – Two area home health care workers entered guilty pleas this week for billing Medicaid for home healthcare services that were not provided, while three other individuals were indicted with similar Medicaid home healthcare fraud charges.  The charges include a home health care worker billing Medicaid when she was actually taking the bar examination in Jefferson City, Missouri, to become a lawyer. Another home health care worker billed Medicaid when his patient was actually in Florida; another home care worker billed Medicaid the day after she was discharged from the hospital after giving birth to a newborn baby and another home health care worker billed Medicaid for taking care of her husband.      

JANISE LAMPLEY, St. Louis, Missouri, pled guilty today to three counts of making false statements to the Missouri Medicaid program.  According to court documents, during 2014, Lampley submitted weekly timesheets to Medicaid in which she claimed to be providing 6-8 hours of home care services for two different patients.  But Lampley was actually in Las Vegas, Chicago, Atlanta and Florida during the days that she told Medicaid that she was working in Missouri at the two patients’ homes.  Lampley, a licensed Missouri lawyer, also billed Medicaid for daily home care services when she was actually taking the bar examination in Jefferson City, Missouri, to become a lawyer.  After Medicaid funded payments to her for the home health care services, Lampley sometimes gave the two patients cash payments of $100-$200 per pay check.

MYKEILA McKINDALL, St. Louis County, Missouri, pled guilty today to three counts of making false statements to Medicaid.  In her court documents, McKindall admitted that she was discharged from the hospital after delivering a baby on December 15, 2013, and received a doctor’s note to stay off work until January 23, 2014.  However, McKindall then submitted false time sheets to Medicaid claiming that she provided daily home health care starting December 16, 2013, through January 23, 2014.  Actually, McKindall was at home taking care of her newborn baby.  McKindall also billed Medicaid for days when one of her patients was not at the patient’s home for days at a time, and during some time frames when McKindall was actually working at another full-time job at a restaurant.

Both Lampley and McKindall pled guilty before United States District Judge John A. Ross.  Each will be sentenced on February 9, 2015.  Each charge carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000. In determining the actual sentences, a Judge is required to consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, which provide recommended sentencing ranges.   

JEFFERY WINN, St. Louis, Missouri, was indicted Wednesday on five counts of making false statements to Medicaid.  His indictment states that he submitted home health care time sheets for two patients at the same time as he also worked at a nursing home and for the State of Missouri.  Winn routinely claimed over 20 total hours of work between his four jobs, and sometimes submitted work hours for all four jobs totaling over 23 or even 24 hours per day.

Finally, ANGELA WASHINGTON and ERIC HARVEY, both of St. Louis, Missouri, were indicted Wednesday on two counts of making false statements to Medicaid and one count of conspiring to defraud the Social Security Administration (SSA).  The indictment alleges that under Medicaid’s rules, a wife cannot be paid for taking care of her spouse as a home health care aide.  Washington and Harvey concealed their marriage from Medicaid, with Washington repeatedly asking Medicaid for money for taking care of her husband at home on a daily basis.  Harvey and Washington also submitted a time sheet to Medicaid claiming reimbursement for home health care services when both Harvey and Washington were actually testifying in a SSA disability hearing.  At the disability hearing, the indictment alleges that both defendants provided false testimony to SSA that they were unmarried and Harvey lived alone.   

As is always the case, charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt.  Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.  

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Offices of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Social Security Administration, with assistance from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Missouri Attorney General’s Office.