FBI Announces SoCal Arrest in Major Hospice Care Fraud Bust; Taxpayer loss over $50M

The FBI announced Thursday the arrests of 8 of 15 defendants in connection with a major multi-million dollar health care fraud scheme.

The arrests were made in and around Los Angeles County as well as in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Officials said some of the defendants are health care professionals, including nurses, a psychologist and a chiropractor.

The loss to taxpayers reportedly exceeded $50 million, according to the Justice Department.

Six of the defendants arrested Thursday are expected to make initial appearances Thursday afternoon in United States District Court in Los Angeles.

Details were announced on Thursday about the operation, which was linked to the Vice President’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud. FBI officials say they have a zero-tolerance policy for anyone accused of defrauding American taxpayers.

“This morning, we executed Operation Never Say Die,” First Assistant US Attorney Bill Asley announced. “Federal agents from multiple agencies descended on fraudsters in Southern California, making numerous arrests and executing search warrants.”

Essayli announced the arrest of eight people, including doctors and nurses, and charges against 15 separate individuals who were involved in nine health care fraud investigations.

These arrests include hospice owners, whom Acelli accuses of paying taxpayers millions of dollars to serve terminally ill patients who were allegedly not sick.

Those defendants include three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist. Officials claim they ran fraudulent hospice care facilities that defrauded Medicare by using people without terminal illnesses as beneficiaries.

All face years in federal prison.

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According to the Department of Justice, each year America loses billions of dollars to health care fraud, American taxpayers pick up the cost — seeing increases in premiums, co-payments and taxes.

Operation Never Say Die was organized to go after abusers of the system, the defendants in this case accused of turning hospice care into a money-making operation.

For example, two suspects, 66-year-old psychologist Gladwin Gill and his wife, Covena nurse Amelou Gill, allegedly ran a Glendale-based hospice care facility and schemed to defraud Medicare by “paying alleged kickbacks for referrals of non-fatal patients.”

The couple allegedly laundered the money and then spent the money on things like mortgage payments, car payments, personal bills, travel and dining out.

The 15 defendants involved in the 9 investigations by the Department of Justice are:

• Lolita Beronilla Maynard65, licensed vocational nurse from Anaheim

• Gladwin GillA 66-year-old psychologist and his wife, Amelu GillA 70-year-old registered nurse, both of Covina

• Nita Almute Paddit Palma76, a three-time-convicted health care fraudster currently incarcerated in a federal prison in Seattle, and her husband, Adolfo Catbagan68, of Glendale

• Evelyn Tindimobuna51, a licensed vocational nurse from Chatsworth

• Ivan Verne Lauritzen50 years old from Simi Valley

• Three Ulava-Moala51, of Carson; John Nicola77, El Segundo, a licensed chiropractor; Christa Richter40, Torrance, who owned a medical billing company; John Keohulua49, of Long Beach

• Gregory Cartmell62, of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, a licensed chiropractor and co-conspirator Vincent Suras87, of McKinney, Texas

• Sonia Griffin51, of Lakewood

• of young Ju59, East Hollywood and a legal permanent resident from South Korea

You can learn more details about each individual investigation here.

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