Maryland Woman Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Healthcare Fraud

LYNCHBURG, Va. – The former director and one of the corporate officers for 1st Adult N Pediatrics Healthcare pled guilty yesterday to conspiring with others to commit federal healthcare fraud.

Carolyn Bryant-Taylor, 61, of Clinton, Maryland, pled guilty yesterday to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud. At sentencing, Bryant-Taylor faces a maximum statutory penalty of up to 10 years in prison.

Bryant-Taylor was charged in March 2025, along with: Kafomdi “Josephine” Okocha, 48, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; Samuel Okocha, 50, of Upper Marlboro, Maryland; Shekita Gore, a.k.a. Shekita Steele, 38, of Clinton, Maryland; Elizabeth Ilome, 41, of Stafford, Virginia; and Eno Utuk, 47, of Stafford, Virginia.

According to court documents, Bryant-Taylor, Josephine Okocha, and Samuel Okocha were owners and operators of 1st Adult N Pediatric Healthcare Service, a Medicaid-enrolled home health agency providing private duty nursing, personal care, and respite care services throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia, including in the Western District of Virginia. Gore was the director of nursing, while Utuk and Ilome were employed by 1st Adult to provide nursing and personal care.

The defendants conspired to submit false claims to Medicaid for services that were not provided to patients, including falsifying records and documentation in support of the fraudulent claims submitted for reimbursement.

As part of this scheme, between 2017 and 2023, Bryant-Taylor and her co-defendant, Josephine Okocha, planned arrangements to pay the parents or guardians of patients in exchange for blank, signed nursing notes which would be filled out and used to support billing to Medicaid. In these arrangements, the amount billed to Medicaid either reflected nursing services that were not provided at all, or an amount of nursing services that was in excess of what was actually provided.

On multiple occasions between 2017 and 2023, Bryant-Taylor provided payments to parents or guardians of patients. In exchange, the patients’ parents or guardians agreed to sign off on skilled nursing that had not occurred and Bryant-Taylor, or other employees at 1st Adult, received blank, signed nursing notes.

Robert N. Tracci, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares, and Acting Special Agent in Charge Stephen Farina of the FBI’s Richmond Division made the announcement.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Virginia Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit are investigating the case, with assistance from the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jonathan Jones and Laura Taylor, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicole Terry, a Senior Assistant Attorney General with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office, are prosecuting the case.