ST CHARLES, Mo. — A St. Charles woman will spend nearly five years in prison after admitting to Medicaid fraud.
Barbara Martin, 63, of St. Charles was sentenced on Tuesday to nearly five years for her role in a $2.5 million fraud scheme involving Missouri’s Medicaid program. Martin also defrauded close to $60,000 in loan money from the Paycheck Protection program.
According to a press release, Martin pleaded guilty in late June to “conspiracy to commit health care fraud and bank fraud conspiracy.”
Martin confessed to being the administrator for Legacy Consumer Directed Services, which was the business she used to fraudulently enroll in the Medicaid program in 2013.
“Martin falsely listed the name of her daughter, Zamika Walls, 38, on the application to conceal her own role and the role of her sister, Margo Taylor, 66, as the people who ran the company,” according to the release.
Walls was listed as the director of the company, but she was not involved in the business. Martin put Walls’ name to get approved without any problems.
In addition, Martin lied about whether the person applying for the program was a convict in order to get approved.
The fake company billed the Medicaid program over $2.5 million between May 2014 and September 2020. The money they stole went toward trips to Miami, Las Vegas and Atlanta, according to the release.
This, despite Martin claiming the money went toward providing personal care services for Medicaid clients and that Walls lived in Atlanta.
Arvids Petersons, who is the director of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Missouri Attorney General’s office, said that Martin “actively subverted controls designed to prevent fraud.”
He said the money she stole would provide personal care services that could keep more than 200 people in their homes instead of skilled nursing facilities, for example.
Walls and Martin also conspired to apply for a loan from the Paycheck Protection Program, which is a COVID-19 pandemic-era program created to save small businesses and jobs.
“Martin lied when she claimed the loan would be used to pay salaries, mortgage or lease payments and utility bills,” according to the release.
A United States district judge ordered Martin to repay $2,566,989 to Missouri’s Medicaid program and $58,295 to the U.S. Small Business Administration.
Walls was sentenced Sept. 21 to 15 months in prison and ordered to repay $127,491.
Taylor pleaded guilty in early July to two counts of health care fraud. She is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 19.
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