St. Clair County Women Sentenced For Fraud On The Medicaid Home Services Program

Lillie Vaughn, 56, of Cahokia, IL, a beneficiary of the Illinois Medicaid Home Services program, and Vickie Deal, 46, of Madison, IL, her personal assistant under the program paid by the State of Illinois, were sentenced in the District Court in East St. Louis, IL, on one count of making False Statements related to Health Care Matters, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, Stephen R. Wigginton, announced today.

Each woman was sentenced to three years on probation, a $100 special assessment, and ordered to pay restitution in the total amount of $3,094.88 to the State of Illinois and to the United States Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Vaughn and Deal had previously pled guilty to defrauding the Illinois Department of Human Services (DHS) Home Services Program, a Medicaid Waiver Program designed to prevent the unnecessary institutionalization of individuals who may instead be satisfactorily maintained at home at a lesser cost to the State. Each admitted making a materially false statement in connection with the delivery of and payment for health care services by reporting on a Home Services Time Sheet sent to the Illinois Department of Human Services, Office of Rehabilitation Services, that from July 1 through July 15, 2011, that Deal had performed and that Vaughn had received 48 hours of personal assistant services, even though both knew that Deal did not perform any personal assistant services on these days because Deal was incarcerated.

The case was investigated by agents of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) and the Illinois State Police, Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau (MFCB) located in Collinsville, IL. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael J. Quinley.