HOUSTON – A Missouri City couple, who owned a group home in Houston, was convicted by a federal jury for a $1 million Medicare fraud scheme, including violations of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Lindell King, 52, and Ynedra Diggs, 44, were patient recruiters who owned and operated group homes in which Medicare beneficiaries lived, according to court documents and evidence presented at trial. In exchange for sending their group home residents to Behavioral Medicine of Houston, a community mental health center that purported to provide partial hospitalization services, BMH paid Diggs, King, and other patient recruiters kickbacks in cash and by check, often concealed as payment for “transportation” or other sham services. Over the course of the conspiracy, BMH billed approximately $1 million to Medicare based on kickbacks paid to Diggs and King.
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Both Diggs and King were convicted of a conspiracy to defraud the United States and to pay and receive health care kickbacks, and several substantive violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute. The couple is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 4.
King faces up to 20 years in prison on all charges and Diggs faces up to 15 years in prison on all charges. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
The HHS-OIG, FBI, and MFCU investigated the case.