Owner of Detroit Adult Day Care Centers Pleads Guilty in Connection with Medicare Psychotherapy Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON – The owner of several Detroit-area businesses that housed severely mentally-disabled Medicare recipients pleaded guilty today for his role in a $13.2 million fraud scheme, announced Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan Barbara L. McQuade, Special Agent in Charge Robert D. Foley III of the FBI’s Detroit Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Lamont Pugh III of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Chicago Regional Office.

Marcus Jenkins, 51, of Farmington Hills, Mich., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Stephen J. Murphy III in the Eastern District of Michigan to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and five counts of health care fraud.  Jenkins’s wife, Beth Jenkins, pleaded guilty to the same charges on Jan. 3, 2013, for her involvement in the scheme.

 Marcus Jenkins admitted that he and others conspired to defraud Medicare through Quality Recreation & Rehabilitation LLC (QRR) and Procare Rehabilitation Inc., two adult day care centers he owned and operated with Beth Jenkins.  According to court documents, Jenkins also owned and operated several Detroit-area adult foster care homes (AFCs) that housed severely mentally-disabled Medicare recipients.  Court documents allege that Jenkins used the Medicare information of more than 100 Detroit-area AFC residents to bill Medicare through QRR and Procare for individual and group psychotherapy.  Jenkins admitted that he caused claims to be submitted to Medicare for psychotherapy services that were not provided, including claims for psychotherapy purportedly given to a patient who was deceased on the dates of claimed service.

 From 2004 through 2011, Marcus Jenkins, Beth Jenkins and alleged co-conspirators submitted more than 185,000 claims to Medicare totaling more than $13.2 million for group and individual psychotherapy that was not provided.  According to court documents, Medicare paid $4,777,792 on these claims.

At sentencing, scheduled for April 19, 2013, Jenkins faces a maximum penalty of 60 years in prison and a $1.5 million fine.

Jenkins’s co-defendant Dr. Alphonso Berry, is scheduled for trial on Jan. 8, 2013.  He is presumed innocent until proven guilty at trial.

This case is being prosecuted by William G. Kanellis and Tarek Helou of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.  It was investigated by the FBI and HHS-OIG, and was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan.

Since its inception in March 2007, the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, now operating in nine cities across the country, has charged more than 1,480 defendants who have collectively billed the Medicare program for more than $4.8 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with HHS-OIG, is taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.