A Las Vegas, Nevada man pleaded guilty on April 22nd to a conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and cable fraud, a conspiracy to commit money laundering, and aggravated identity theft. He also agreed to forfeit the proceeds of his crimes, according to a press release from the Justice Department in the eastern district of North Carolina. In addition to cash, the realizable assets also included the defendant’s stake in a British Aerospace Bae 125-800A aircraft, a 2017 Aston Martin DB 11 sports car; a 2016 Ford F-150 Super-Crew pickup; Real estate on behalf of Assured Healthcare Systems in Hertford County, North Carolina; Charles County, Maryland real estate; as well as various other designer jewelry and luxury items confiscated from the defendant’s penthouse condominium in Las Vegas.
According to court records, 52-year-old Timothy Mark Harron admitted to conspiring with his wife, Latisha Harron, to commit a massive fraud on the North Carolina Medicaid (“NC Medicaid”) program by billing the government for fictitious home health services . Harron also admitted working with his wife to launder the proceeds of the scam into, among other things, a private jet, luxury jewelry, and clothing and real estate in Ahoskie and Rich Square, North Carolina. Latisha Harron has pleaded guilty to similar charges and is awaiting conviction.
According to the charges, Latisha Harron founded and operated Agape Healthcare Systems, Inc. (“Agape”), an alleged Medicaid home health provider, in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. “In order to register Agape as a Medicaid provider, Latisha Harron has fraudulently concealed her previous conviction of identity theft. In 2012, Harron moved to Maryland from North Carolina. Despite this move, Harron NC continued to bill Medicaid as if Agape were providing home health services to recipients in North Carolina, ”the press release said.
In May 2017, Latisha Harron moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to live with the defendant Timothy Mark Harron. The two married in 2018. The indictment alleges that Harron was also a previously convicted felon and that fact remained hidden from NC Medicaid on registration records. Harron pleaded guilty to allegations that he and his wife worked together to expand the agape scam against NC Medicaid and fraudulently billed the program in just a few years of participating in the program.
“As charged, Harron admitted that he and his wife committed the fraud by exploiting an authorization tool only entrusted to NC Medicaid providers. In particular, Harron and his wife searched public sources, such as obituaries from North Carolina funeral directors on the Internet, to locate recently deceased North Carolinians, ”the press release said. “Harron admitted that the two would then extract certain personal information for the deceased from the obituaries, including their name, date of birth, and date of death. Using the extracted information, the defendants would then query the NC Medicaid authorization tool to determine if the deceased had a Medicaid identification number. If the deceased North Carolinian had a valid Medicaid identification number and was otherwise eligible for Medicaid coverage throughout his life, the defendants would use that person’s identity to bill NC Medicaid through Agape for up to one year of fictitious home health services, allegedly performed before the death of the individual. NC Medicaid then paid out millions in agape, all of which went to accounts controlled by the Harrons. “
As charged, the internet fraud was conducted from locations around the world, including the corporate office building in Las Vegas, the penthouse condominium in Las Vegas, a corporate office in North Carolina, and various hotels and luxury resorts in and outside the United States Publication continued.
Harron continued to plead guilty of laundering the proceeds of the agape scam into various luxury items, including a $ 900,000 wire for the purchase of a British Aerospace Bae 125-800A private jet, hundreds of thousands of dollars in Tiffany & Co., and Brioni clothing and jewelry, thousands of dollars for business real estate in eastern North Carolina and thousands of dollars for fitness equipment, the news release said.
Harron pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and cable fraud in violation of Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 1349, which gives a maximum sentence of up to 20 years in prison; a count of aggravated identity theft in violation of Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 1028A, which carries a maximum penalty of at least two years in prison after other sentences; and conspiracy to commit money laundering in violation of Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 1956 (h), which gives a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
Acting United States attorney G. Norman Acker III made the announcement after U.S. District Judge Richard E. Myers II accepted the request. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, the US Department of Health of the Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Department, and the North Carolina Attorney General’s Medicaid Investigations Division are investigating the case. US Assistant Attorney William M. Gilmore is the prosecutor on this case. U.S. Assistant Attorney John Harris is representing the United States on the decay aspects of the case.
READ MORE NEWS HERE.
LATEST HEADLINES:
North Carolina man sentenced to over 14 years in prison on methamphetamine charges
North Carolina man sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking
