Date: 01-06-2016

Case Style: United States of America v. Ronald Tucker

Case Number: 3:15-cr-150

Judge: James R. Spencer

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia (Henrico County)

Plaintiff's Attorney: Joseph E.H. Atkinson and Jessica D. Aber.

Defendant's Attorney: Nia Ayanna Vidal - FPD

Description: Richmond, VA - Richmond Businessman Sentenced for Health Care Fraud Conspiracy

Ronald Tucker, 46, of Lawrenceville, was sentenced to 37 months in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud for submitting false and fraudulent claims for reimbursement to the Virginia Medicaid program. Tucker was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $442,148 to the Virginia Medicaid Program.

Tucker pleaded guilty on Aug. 26, 2015. According to court documents, Tucker owned and operated Quality Healthcare Inc. (Quality), a Richmond-based Medicaid provider of Intensive In-Home and Mental Health Support services. Intensive In-Home Therapy services, one of the many mental health services offered by Medicaid in Virginia, are designed to assist youth and adolescents who are at risk of being removed from their homes or are being returned to their homes after removal because of significant mental health, behavioral, or emotional issues. Mental Health Support services are designed to enable individuals with significant psychiatric functional limitations to achieve and maintain community stability and independence.

In a statement of facts filed with the plea agreement, Tucker acknowledged that, through Quality, he billed Medicaid for services that were never performed and falsified patient eligibility criteria that was submitted to Medicaid’s prior-authorization service, falsely representing Medicaid recipients’ mental health statuses to qualify them for services they did not need.

Dana J. Boente, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia; Mark R. Herring, Attorney General of Virginia; and Adam S. Lee, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Richmond Field Office, made the announcement after sentencing by U.S. District Judge James R. Spencer.

The case was investigated by the FBI and the Virginia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit.

Outcome: Sentenced to 37 months, three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $442,148.00.

Plaintiff's Experts:

Defendant's Experts:

Comments: