Press Release
Three Pittsburgh Residents Plead Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Health Care Fraud
For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Western District of Pennsylvania
PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Three residents of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty in federal court this week to conspiracy to defraud the Pennsylvania Medicaid program, United States Attorney Scott W. Brady announced today.
Travis Moriarty, 37, Tiffhany Covington, 41, and Brenda Lowry Horton, 48, all of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to one count in separate hearings before United States District Judge Cathy Bissoon.
During their plea hearings, each defendant admitted that they were employees of one or more of four related entities operating in the home health care industry—Moriarty Consultants, Inc. (MCI), Activity Daily Living Services, Inc. (ADL), Coordination Care, Inc. (CCI), and Everyday People Staffing, Inc. (EPS). MCI, ADL, and CCI were approved under the Pennsylvania Medicaid program to offer certain services to qualifying Medicaid recipients ("consumers"), including personal assistance services (PAS), service coordination, and non-medical transportation, among other services. Between in and around January 2011 and in and around April 2017, MCI, ADL, and CCI, collectively, received more than $87,000,000 in Medicaid payments based on claims submitted for these services, with PAS payments accounting for more than $80,000,000 of the total amount.
During that time, the defendants admitted that they participated in a wide-ranging conspiracy to defraud the Pennsylvania Medicaid program for the purpose of obtaining millions of dollars in illegal Medicaid payments through the submission of fraudulent claims for services that were never provided to the consumers identified on the claims or for which there was insufficient or fabricated documentation to support the claims. The Court was further advised that the defendants conspired with, among others, Arlinda Moriarty, the owner of MCI, ADL, and EPS; Daynelle Dickens, the owner of CCI and Arlinda Moriarty’s sister; various office workers at the companies, including Julie Wilson, Tamika Adams, Tony Brown, Terra Dean, Larita Walls, Keith Scoggins, and Tia Collins; attendants at MCI, including Tionne Street, Autumn Brown, and Luis Columbie-Abrew; and Terry Adams, a consumer.
As part of the conspiracy, the defendants admitted that co-conspirators fabricated timesheets to reflect the provision of in-home PAS care they provided to consumers but that, in fact, never occurred. In addition, at Arlinda Moriarty’s direction, certain co-conspirators stopped using their own names as the attendant on timesheets and instead used the names of "ghost" attendants, some of whom permitted their names to be used in exchange for a kickback of resulting fraudulent salary payments. The defendants also admitted that certain co-conspirators submitted false timesheets for PAS care they never provided during times when they were actually working at other jobs or living out of the area. In some cases, as the defendants acknowledged, Medicaid claims were submitted for PAS care that purportedly occurred while consumers were hospitalized, incarcerated, or deceased, and in other instances, co-conspirators paid kickbacks to consumers in exchange for the consumers’ agreement to participate in the submission of fraudulent timesheets in support of Medicaid claims.
The defendants also admitted that Arlinda Moriarty directed co-conspirators to bill the maximum allowable PAS and service coordination hours for consumers to maximize profits and to ensure that the state did not require MCI, ADL, and CCI to forfeit underutilized consumer hours. Many consumers had no knowledge that their personally identifiable information was being used to bill Medicaid for benefits that the consumers had not exhausted. Moreover, the Court was further advised during the plea hearings that, as part of the conspiracy, Arlinda Moriarty directed employees to fabricate documentation during the course of state audits.
The defendants each face a maximum total sentence of not more than 10 years in prison, a fine of $250,000, or both. Under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the actual sentence imposed would be based upon the seriousness of the offense and the prior criminal history, if any, of the defendants.
Autumn Brown was charged by Criminal Information on October 18, 2018, and a plea hearing is scheduled for December 14, 2018.
On November 26, 2018, a federal grand jury indicted Arlinda Moriarty, Dickens, Wilson, Tamika Adams, Tony Brown, Terry Adams, Collins, Dean, Walls, Scoggins, Street, and Columbie- Abrew for their roles in the conspiracy. An indictment is an accusation. The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
Assistant United States Attorneys Eric G. Olshan and Special Assistant United States Attorney Edward Song are prosecuting this case on behalf of the government. The Federal Bureau of Investigation, Pennsylvania Office of the Attorney General – Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services – Office of Inspector General, and United States Postal Inspection Service conducted the investigation of the defendants.
Updated December 7, 2018
Topic
Health Care Fraud
Component