LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A Medicaid fraud investigation in Southern Nevada that resulted in 11 convictions over a four-year interval has reached its conclusion, producing $5.5 million in restitution.
Nevada Lawyer Normal Aaron Ford stated Friday that prosecutions have ended, breaking a fraud ring that dates again to 2017.
A church operated by Greg and Carol Kirby was on the heart of the scheme to invoice Medicaid for psychological well being companies that had been by no means truly rendered, in line with a information launch from Ford’s workplace.
In a 2018 report from the 8 Information Now Investigators, Greg Kirby claimed he was being arrange after a sequence of IRS raids in February of that yr.
In 2022, Regina Brice advised 8 Information Now, “We’re not crooks. I’ve never been in trouble to steal, I never even stole a penny candy in my life. I don’t have a criminal record of stealing. I’m not a thief. I’m a woman of god.” She was ordered to pay greater than $1.1 million when she was convicted on April 17 this yr.
Investigators: ‘I’m a girl of God’ Las Vegas pastors accused of stealing over $1 million from healthcare system
After her conviction, Regina Brice repeated her declare she was harmless: “We didn’t do what we’re accused of doing at all.”
8 Information Now Investigator Vanessa Murphy interviewing Joe and Regina Brice. (KLAS)
The primary prosecution led to 2021 with the conviction of Lavell Worthy in state court docket. Worthy obtained a yr’s probation and ordered to pay $100,000 in restitution on a conviction for Intentional Failure to Keep Satisfactory Information.
Over the course of the investigation, 10 others had been convicted in federal court docket on quite a lot of costs. Two of the convictions resulted in jail time:
Erica Goodley: (convicted on 4/20/2022), Conspiracy to Commit Healthcare Fraud, ordered to pay $499,440.70 in restitution, and sentenced to 3 years probation.
Billy Kirby: (4/20/2022), Conspiracy to Commit Healthcare Fraud, ordered to pay $499,440.70 in restitution, and sentenced to 3 years probation.
Robert Bailey: (7/7/2022), Conspiracy to Commit Healthcare Fraud and sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment.
Henrietta Binford: (4/29/2024), Healthcare Fraud and Aiding and Abetting, ordered to pay $1,250,323.39 in restitution, and sentenced to 10 months in jail.
Carol Kirby: (7/31/2024), Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Towards the USA, ordered to pay $372,502.68, and sentenced to 5 years probation.
Antonette Harris: (8/26/2024), Healthcare Fraud and Aiding and Abetting, ordered to pay $707,885.42, and sentenced to 5 years probation.
Gregory Kirby: (1/23/2025), Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Towards the USA, ordered to pay $372,502.68, and sentenced to 5 years probation.
Joseph Brice: (2/18/2025), Financial Transactions in Criminally Derived Property, ordered to pay $392,140.50 in restitution, and sentenced to 10 months in jail.
Regina Brice: (4/17/2025) Healthcare Fraud and Aiding and Abetting, ordered to pay $1,137,513.00, and sentenced to 4 years probation.
Marcus Millner: (6/11/2025), Conspiracy to Commit Well being Care Fraud, ordered to pay $1,027,575.09 in restitution, and sentenced to 2 years probation.
Starting in July 2017, the Medicaid Fraud Management Unit (MFCU) opened an investigation into Prime Notch Behavioral Well being and Shepherds Coronary heart Companies, two psychological well being Medicaid supplier companies. The investigation centered on claims submitted to Medicaid for companies not truly rendered.
The preliminary investigation revealed hyperlinks to a wider group concerned in an analogous scheme of fraudulent Medicaid billing, officers stated.
“I am proud of the work of the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in working with other agencies to investigate this case and obtain convictions against these individuals to hold them accountable,” Ford stated. “My office will continue to hold people and companies that defraud the Medicaid system accountable and ensure Medicaid funds are available for those people that are in need of services.”
The U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace for the District of Nevada prosecuted the federal circumstances.
