Press Releases
EMPLOYEES AND OWNER OF LOCAL MEDICAID AGENCY PLEAD GUILTY TO FEDERAL HEALTH CARE OFFENSES
October 29, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The owner and two employees of A New Beginning of New Orleans, Inc.(ANBNO) located in Harvey, Louisiana, pled guilty in federal court today to charges involving federal health care fraud, announced U. S. Attorney Jim Letten.
In the first case, ANISSA EUGENE, age 23, a resident of New Orleans, pled guilty before U. S. District Judge Carl Barbier to one-count charging health care fraud; and in the second case, D’JUAN ROBINSON, age 30, a resident of Marrero, and MICHAEL DAVIS, age 34, a resident of Westwego, each pled guilty before U. S. District Judge Mary Ann Vial Lemmon to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. According to court documents, MICHAEL DAVIS was an owner/operator, and ANISSA EUGENE and D’JUAN ROBINSON were employees of A New Beginning of New Orleans, Inc., a Medicaid provider that made claims for Personal Care Services it claimed to have provided to Medicaid recipients.
Personal Care Services (PCS) are Medicaid services provided by attendants to eligible recipients meeting the medical necessity criteria who are unable to care for themselves. The bill of information alleged that ANBNO solicited mothers with children who had Medicaid benefits to apply for PCS. It is alleged that in many cases, a false prescription for PCS was created and transmitted to Medicaid; and in other cases, true prescriptions were transmitted relative to children with true disabilities.
It was further alleged that after Medicaid approved the PCS applications, false documentation containing employees’ time sheets and daily schedules which detailed the services rendered to Medicaid child recipients was created by employees of ANBNO and parents of the Medicaid recipient children.
In a related case, AKASIA LEE, ANBNO owner/operator, QUEBAN LEE, UNA FAVORITE BROWN and MELINDA LANGLEY, ANBNO employees, and ERNESTINE GIROD a mother of Medicaid recipients, who were charged in multiple counts of conspiracy and health care fraud, are scheduled for trial on March 9, 2009. From the time of the inception of ANBNO through May 4, 2005, when a federal search warrant was executed at the business location of ANBNO, it is alleged that Medicaid paid approximately $3,977,288 as a result of the fraudulent claims made by ANBNO and its employees.
ANISSA EUGENE faces up to ten (10) years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, D’JUAN ROBINSON and MICHAEL DAVIS each face up to five (5) years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
This investigation is being conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Louisiana Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney Patrice Harris Sullivan.
(Download Factual Basis for Davis, Robinson, Eugene 
)
