PHYSICAL THERAPY CLINIC OPERATOR SENTENCED TO PRISON IN FRAUD CASE

 

    HOUSTON, TX – Brenda Franklin Harris, 59, of Baytown, Texas, was sentenced to 51 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle announced today. 

        Harris, one of two operators of a physical the therapy clinic Health Universal Medical Services, was sentenced today by United States District Judge David Hittner.  Harris’ co-defendant, Rosiland Michelle Jones, 40, also of Baytown, was sentenced in August 2006 to 33 months in prison for her role in this conspiracy.  Both women have been ordered to jointly pay restitution to the Medicare and Medicaid programs of approximately $1.2 million, representing the amounts paid by the programs as a result of the fraudulent scheme perpetrated by Harris and Jones.  

        Harris and Jones were indicted in December 2004 for the federal fraud offenses based upon an investigation that proved the women were filing false and fraudulent claims with the Medicare and Medicaid programs.  The investigation, jointly undertaken by Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, Office of Investigation, and the Texas Attorney General’s Office, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, produced evidence that proved that Harris and Jones were defrauding the health care programs in three different ways: (1) filing claims for services not performed; (2) filing claims for services where no licensed physician treated the patient; and (3) filing claims for services performed by unlicensed, untrained persons not under the direct supervision of a licensed physician.

        Between January 1999 and July 2001, the defendants submitted claims to Medicare and Medicaid through Health Universal Medical Services of approximately $4 million, resulting in payments to the company of more than $1.2 million.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Cedric L. Joubert