United States Attorney Richard B. Roper
Northern District of Texas

LUBBOCK, TEXAS, MAN SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON, WITHOUT PAROLE, FOR MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS IN
CONNECTION WITH A HEALTH CARE MATTER

Defendant Also Ordered to Pay
Approximately $662,000 Restitution to Texas Medicaid

LUBBOCK, Tx. — Paul Mason, of Lubbock, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Sam R. Cummings to 60 months in prison and ordered to pay $662,037.48 in restitution to Texas Medicaid, announced. U.S. Attorney Richard B. Roper of the Northern District of Texas. Mason pled guilty in May to one count of false statements in connection with a health care matter. Judge Cummings ordered that Mason, 38, surrender to the Bureau of Prisons on September 28, 2007.

The federal charges against Paul Mason’s wife, Janice Linn Mason, 63, a Licensed Professional Counselor, and approved Medicaid provider, were dismissed after she pled guilty to a state felony charge of Medicaid Fraud in the 137th District Court in Lubbock County. She was sentenced to ten years probation, 320 hours of community service, and ordered to pay $330,000 in restitution to Texas Medicaid.

Oak Tree Counseling was the name of Linn Mason’s counseling practice, and from February 1997 to January 2004, it was located at 4630 50th Street in Lubbock. In January 2004, Oak Tree Counseling’s offices moved to Paul and Linn Mason’s home on 150th Street in Lubbock.

Paul Mason admitted that beginning in January 2002 and continuing to December 12, 2006, he filed, and caused to be filed, claims to Medicaid for reimbursement for counseling services that were never performed. By submitting false claims to Medicaid, Mason caused Medicaid to pay more than $650,000 for counseling services that were never provided to Medicaid patients. The restitution ordered as part of the judgment against Mason will reimburse the Medicaid trust fund that provides medical, dental, and mental health services to Texas’ neediest residents, primarily women and children.

U.S. Attorney Roper praised the excellent investigative work of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s Office - Medicaid Fraud Unit and said, “This case is the result of another a thorough investigation conducted by General Abbott’s Medicaid Fraud Unit. Our cooperative efforts with the Attorney General’s office are critical to ferreting out and prosecuting these types of cases.”

The case was prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Amy Burch of the Lubbock, Texas, U.S. Attorney’s Office.

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