[HOUSTON, TX] - A 30-count health care fraud indictment charging a doctor and two durable medical equipment company operators for their alleged involvement in a scheme to defraud Medicare and Medicaid was unsealed today, United States Attorney Don DeGabrielle and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott announced. 

Brenda Davis Miller, also known as Brenda Graham Davis, 36, of Humble, Texas;  Dorothy Ann Hawkins, 44, of Watauga, Texas, and Dr. Walter Keirn Long, 78, of Kingwood, Texas, were arrested  today, without incident, by agents of the Houston Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations.  Miller and Long are expected to appear before a U. S. Magistrate Judge in Houston later today.  Hawkins will appear before a U. S. Magistrate in Fort Worth today.       

All three defendants are charged with multiple counts of health care fraud alleging the filing of numerous false or fraudulent claims for durable medical equipment and/or psychotherapy services, and conspiracy.  Brenda Davis Miller, doing business as AA Better Medical Supply, and her sister, Dorothy Ann Hawkins, doing business as Genesis Medical Supply, operated their durable medical equipment (DME) companies in and around the Houston area. The indictment alleges that between 2002 and 2004, Miller and Hawkins conspired to and executed a scheme to submit false and fraudulent bills to Medicare and Medicaid for motorized wheelchairs and related accessories, and for individual psychotherapy.    Miller and Dr. Walter Keirn Long allegedly conspired to and executed a scheme in 2004 to submit false and fraudulent bills to Medicaid for individual psychotherapy. 

Miller and Hawkins are accused of soliciting/recruiting Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to receive durable medical equipment.  According to allegations in the indictment, while the Medicare and Medicaid programs were billed for motorized wheelchairs and related accessories, the patients received nothing or a less expensive scooter costing thousands of dollars less.  Patients, according to the indictment, were not evaluated by a doctor and did not meet the medical qualifications to receive the equipment.  Miller and Graham are also accused of obtaining the Medicaid numbers of children who were Medicaid beneficiaries, sometimes through offers of gifts to their parents, and then billing the Medicaid program for psychotherapy that was never provided.  Miller and Dr. Long are accused of using Dr. Long’s Medicaid provider number to bill the Medicaid program for psychotherapy for children when no therapy was provided. 

The indictment also accuses Miller of money laundering alleging that she cashed numerous Medicaid checks each for more than $10,000 at a Houston check cashing business, knowing that the funds were proceeds from her fraudulent activity. 

The statutory maximum penalty, upon conviction for health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud, money laundering and conspiracy to commit money laundering is 10 years imprisonment, without parole.  Each statute also carries substantial fines as possible punishment.

This investigation leading to the charges in this case was conducted by agents of the Texas Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in Houston; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of the Inspector General; the Internal Revenue Service; and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  Assistant United States Attorney Carol Wheeler and Special Assistant United States Attorney Rex G. Beasley are prosecuting the case.

An indictment is an accusation of criminal conduct, and not evidence.  The defendants are presumed innocent unless convicted through due process of law.