St. Louis Man Sentenced for Home Health Care Fraud
Department of Justice, U.S. Attorney's Office, Missouri, Eastern. Published August 21, 2024; the action is dated August 20, 2024.
Spencer used his brother's identity to submit false time sheets and Electronic Visit Verification records claiming his brother was providing him Medicaid-reimbursed personal care assistance services after his brother moved out, and kept the reimbursement debit card.
ST. LOUIS to U.S. District Judge Stephen R. Clark on Tuesday sentenced a man who used his brother’s identity to fraudulently obtain money from the Missouri Medicaid Program to six months of incarceration and six months of house arrest.
Judge Clark also ordered Christopher J. Spencer, 46, to repay $56,173 to Missouri’s Medicaid Program.
Spencer made false statements from June 2018 to February 2022 in connection with claims for Medicaid-reimbursed personal care assistance services.
“HHS-OIG is dedicated to safeguarding taxpayers and our communities from schemes targeting the Missouri Medicaid Program,” said Linda T. Hanley, Special Agent in Charge at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “Our ongoing partnership with the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit strengthens our collective ability to ensure resources meant for those in need are used appropriately.”
Spencer’s brother, who lived with him at the time, once provided him with personal care services, which can include housekeeping, meals, bathing, grooming and transportation. After his brother moved out in 2018, Spencer continued to submit, on a near daily basis, time sheets and Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) records falsely claiming that his brother was providing care for him. Spencer also submitted enrollment paperwork to the Medicaid vendor listing his brother as his personal care attendant and containing his brother’s forged signature. Spencer kept the debit card used by the Missouri Medicaid Program and its vendors to reimburse his brother and spent the fraudulently-obtained payments on bills, rent, groceries, shopping, hotels and other personal expenses. He also used his brother’s name and personal information to obtain loans or advances on reimbursement payments from the Medicaid vendor.
Spencer pleaded guilty in March to five counts of making false statements relating to health care benefits.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Clow prosecuted the case.