Guilty Man Sentenced To Federal Prison Falsely Billing Medicaid Programs

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A 36-year-old St. Petersburg treatment facility owner received a one-year and a day federal prison sentence for health care fraud Thursday in a Tampa court, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Marcus Lloyd Anderson submitted bogus claims to the Florida Medicaid program and related managed care organizations for services that were never provided to patients, according to court documents. He claimed that patients who were not at his treatment facility had received counseling there. Some patients were hospitalized or placed in assisted living facilities elsewhere when Anderson lied, claiming they were in his care, investigators said.

He stole the billing credentials of multiple doctors who were no longer with his company, and continued to bill for services he pretended they had given at this facility. In this scam, Anderson stole more than $300,000 from these programs. As part of his sentence, the court entered a money judgement of $323,248, which were the proceeds of the offense.

Anderson pleaded guilty April 30, 2020.

“Stealing from Medicaid, a taxpayer-funded safety net program, is a reprehensible crime that diverts funds intended to serve some of the most vulnerable individuals in our country,” Omar Perez Aybar said, special agent in charge of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. “Such greed-fueled scams will not be tolerated. Thanks to our hardworking investigators and our law enforcement partners, fraudsters are being held accountable for engaging in these illicit activities.”