LAS VEGAS (KLAS) – A federal decide sentenced a pastor who stole greater than one million {dollars} from taxpayers to probation.
U.S. District Choose Richard Boulware sentenced Regina Brice to 4 years of probation for her function in a healthcare fraud scheme with at the least three different pastors within the Las Vegas-area. Just one pastor, Regina Brice’s husband Joe Brice, out of three who had been initially charged, will serve jail time. Regina Brice’s April 17 sentencing seemed to be the ultimate sentencing within the multi-million-dollar healthcare fraud case. Boulware additionally ordered Regina Brice to pay greater than $1.1 million in restitution to Nevada Medicaid. “Ms. Brice’s crime is especially egregious because the program she defrauded, Nevada Medicaid, is designed to provide health care for low-income Nevadans,” Assistant U.S. Lawyer Justin Washburne wrote in court docket paperwork. “Instead of allowing this program to provide healthcare for the indigent as intended, Ms. Brice targeted it for her own personal gain.” Washburne argued for a 15-month jail sentence. Regina Brice beforehand pleaded responsible to well being care fraud and aiding and abetting, ensuing within the dismissal of extra prices she confronted. Regina Brice admitted to executing a scheme and plan to defraud Nevada Medicaid between October 2016 and February 2018, based on court docket paperwork obtained by the 8 Information Now Investigators. Brice, based on a plea settlement, omitted her 5 prior misdemeanor convictions, together with possession of drug paraphernalia in 1996 and 1997, theft in 1999, and battery and cost for “non-sufficient funds check” in 2009. That enabled her to enroll in Above and Past Behavioral Providers as a medical supplier with Nevada Medicaid after which submit payments for Nevada Medicaid for providers not rendered, based on the plea settlement. Brice used $248,000 in unlawful proceeds she obtained from Medicaid to buy a property in Las Vegas in 2017.
The utmost sentence Brice may have obtained was 10 years in jail, plus three years of supervised launch together with a advantageous.
Regina Brice and her husband Joe Brice insisted they had been harmless in a 2020 interview with the 8 Information Now Investigators.
“We didn’t do what we’re accused of doing at all,” Regina Brice claimed. Regina Brice’s protection lawyer, Gary Reeves wrote in court docket paperwork, “Brice was a very minor player who was groomed by much more substantial players in the overarching conspiracy.” Reeves claimed Regina Brice performed no half in devising the scheme. “This case arose out of an elaborate conspiracy, concocted by others, to engage in fraudulent health care billing to Nevada Medicaid,” Reeves wrote. Reeves additionally referred to a pre-sentence investigation, often known as a PSI, which detailed extra details about the case. “There were at least 15 people involved and approximately $30,000,000 was the reported aggregate loss from fraudulent Medicaid billings,” Reeves wrote. Regina Brice is “deeply religious” and “extremely remorseful,” Reeves wrote. Regina Brice requested Boulware to think about her well being situation from an alleged work-related accident for which she is receiving employees’ compensation, based on Reeves. U.S. District Choose Gloria Navarro sentenced Joe Brice to 10 months in jail plus one 12 months of supervised launch on Feb. 19, based on court docket paperwork. He pleaded responsible to financial transactions in criminal-derived property. Navarro ordered him to give up on Could 16 to serve his time period. Navarro additionally ordered Joe Brice to pay greater than $392,000 in restitution to Nevada Medicaid. Joe Brice admitted to devising a scheme to defraud Nevada Medicaid between March 2017 and February 2018, based on a plea settlement. Brice didn’t disclose his earlier convictions on his utility to enroll in Probabilities Behavioral Well being Providers, LLC, as a medical supplier. Brice’s prison report contains 1984 and 1985 felony housebreaking convictions, two misdemeanor convictions in 2008 for possession of medicine to not be launched into interstate commerce, and a 2011 misdemeanor conviction for try to hold a hid weapon with no allow, the plea settlement states. Brice additionally submitted fraudulent claims for providers by no means rendered, based on the settlement. Extra prices in opposition to Joe Brice had been dropped on account of the plea deal. Reeves, who additionally represented Joe Brice, wrote that Joe Brice had no half in devising the scheme and acknowledged he was a “very minor player.” Reeves additionally wrote about Joe Brice’s well being issues, together with most cancers, stating he’s remorseful and “chagrined by his entanglement in this matter.” Federal prosecutors argued for a 10-month jail sentence, stating he billed Medicaid greater than 24 hours of labor for a single supplier in a single day, and used proceeds from fraud to purchase actual property and costly vehicles.
The utmost sentence Joe Brice may have obtained was 10 years in jail, plus three years of supervised launch together with a advantageous. Gregory and Carol Kirby, a former husband and spouse, had been beforehand sentenced for his or her roles within the healthcare fraud scheme. U.S. District Choose Richard Boulware sentenced Gregory Kirby on Jan. 17. He pleaded responsible to at least one depend of conspiracy to commit an offense in opposition to the USA final April, based on court docket paperwork. A plea settlement refers to healthcare fraud from July 2014 to February 2018 to get funds from Medicaid.
U.S. District Choose Andrew Gordon sentenced Carol Kirby on July 31 after she pleaded responsible to the identical cost.
Each Carol and Gregory Kirby had been ordered to pay practically $373,000 in restitution to Nevada Medicaid. The previous couple averted jail time because the cost carries a most penalty of 5 years in jail, together with three years of supervised launch.
Gregory Kirby admitted to mendacity on an utility to enroll his behavioral well being care firm, Esperanza Household Counseling Providers, LLC, as a medical supplier with Medicaid. Courtroom paperwork mentioned he omitted his prison convictions, together with for a 1986 misdemeanor for tampering with a car and a 1988 felony for possession of cocaine, the plea settlement states.
Kirby additionally admitted to submitting false Medicaid claims to be able to obtain fee for providers which had been by no means supplied, based on the settlement. Kirby additionally admitted to utilizing greater than $785,000 in unlawful proceeds to buy 5 properties, together with two in Decatur, Illinois, in addition to in Las Vegas, Pahrump, and Laughlin, Nevada, the settlement states. Kirby agreed to forfeit greater than $388,000 from his financial institution accounts, together with all 5 properties.
Based on a evaluate of social media postings, Gregory Kirby seems to run Come Unto Me Ministries in Decatur, Illinois, as “Apostle Kirby,” along with his new spouse, “Elect Lady Kirby.”
In a written letter to Boulware previous to the sentencing, Gregory Kirby requested for forgiveness and mercy.
“I have accepted responsibility for my wrongdoing and doing as you can see have never denied the allegations against me,” Kirby wrote within the Jan. 13 letter. “I made wrong decisions that have put me before the court, and I deserve to be punished.”
Carol Kirby additionally pleaded responsible to conspiracy to commit an offense in opposition to the USA. She admitted to mendacity on the applying to enroll her behavioral well being care firms, Apostolic Behavioral Well being and Henderson Household Providers, as medical suppliers with Medicaid by omitting Gregory Kirby’s convictions, as he was listed because the resident agent of 1 enterprise and the director of the opposite, the plea settlement states.
Carol Kirby submitted a false declare to Medicaid for providers that weren’t supplied and used greater than $158,000 in unlawful proceeds to help within the buy of a property in Pahrump, Nevada, based on the plea settlement. Kirby agreed to forfeit practically $12,000 in money seized from financial institution accounts and the identical 5 properties as Gregory Kirby.
The 8 Information Now Investigators first reported on the healthcare fraud investigation in Feb. 2018. Federal investigators searched companies affiliated with the 4 pastors. The 8 Information Now Investigators uncovered that the defendants had been linked to greater than 20 enterprise entities. The 8 Information Now Investigators realized Carol Kirby was accused in one other alleged scheme. A grand jury in Maricopa County, Arizona, indicted Kirby for 20 felony prices, together with 16 counts of theft, and one depend of conspiracy, unlawful management of an enterprise, illegally conducting an enterprise, and fraudulent schemes and artifices.
Kirby, often known as Carol Ann Copeland, and two different ladies, Shawnjerria Nishallen Lucas, and Lavita Rene Verser, ran A Higher You Wellness Heart, LLC, between December 2021 and February 2023 and submitted fraudulent claims to the Arizona Well being Care Price Containment System to gather funds, based on the Oct. 2, 2023 indictment. A trial was scheduled for Could 8.
