Alamance County Residents Plead To Health Care Fraud

GREENSBORO, N.C. –  United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina Ripley Rand announced today that EVELYN FULLER and MICHAEL MCLEAN pleaded guilty in federal court in Greensboro before United States District Judge Catherine C. Eagles to felony charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and health care fraud. 

Fuller, age 61, is a resident of Mebane, North Carolina.  McLean, age 56, is a resident of McLeansville, North Carolina.  Fuller operated a mental health business in Mebane, North Carolina, called Harvest House Community Development Corporation, Inc., which allegedly provided community support services to Medicaid clients.  McLean worked as a manager for Harvest House.

Fuller and McLean pleaded guilty to charges that they submitted or aided and abetted the submission of claims to the North Carolina Medicaid program for mental health services which were never provided.  Between June 2007 and November 2008, Fuller and McLean submitted approximately $400,000 in claims to the Medicaid program for services that were not provided and paid cash to some Medicaid recipients in order to obtain access to the recipient’s Medicaid numbers.  The numbers are required for billing Medicaid and were used in the fraudulent billing scheme.

Each of the defendants faces a maximum penalty of ten years confinement.  The plea agreements also require the defendants to make restitution to the Medicaid program.  Sentencing will occur in Greensboro on June 13, 2013.

The case was investigated by the Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General and the Medicaid Investigations Division of the North Carolina Attorney General’s Office.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert Hamilton and Special Assistant United States Attorney/Assistant Attorney General Jacqueline Perez.