{"id":11671,"date":"2015-04-30T20:55:47","date_gmt":"2015-05-01T03:55:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671"},"modified":"2015-04-30T20:55:47","modified_gmt":"2015-05-01T03:55:47","slug":"woman-ripped-off-medicare-for-3-5-million-by-running-a-wheelchair-scam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671","title":{"rendered":"Woman Ripped Off Medicare for $3.5 Million By Running a Wheelchair Scam"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Social<\/a>LOS ANGELES<\/strong> \u2013 A Hawthorne woman who ran a company that submitted more than $7 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare \u2013 primarily for power wheelchairs that were not needed by patients \u2013 and resulted in the loss of nearly $3.5 million to Medicare has been sentenced to six years and six months in federal prison.<\/p>\n

U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald<\/strong> also ordered\u00a0Adeline Ekwebelem<\/strong>, 51, to pay $3.4 million in restitution to the Medicare program.<\/p>\n

As prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court<\/strong>: \u201cIn addition to exploiting Medicare\u2019s honor system, defendant\u2019s scheme also took advantage of the beneficiaries\u2019 unfamiliarity with the English language and the Medicare system, forcing them to provide their personal Medicare information and sign forms shifting liability for the power wheelchairs to them, even though the forms were neither translated nor explained to the beneficiaries. In some cases, defendant\u2019s conduct even prevented beneficiaries from getting medical care they later needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the course of the scheme, Ekwebelem submitted more than $7 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare and received nearly $3.5 million.<\/p>\n

Following a seven-day trial last September, a federal jury found Ekwebelem guilty of 16 counts of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud and payment of illegal kickbacks, according to authorities.<\/p>\n

The evidence showed that Ekwebelem\u2019s Gardena-based durable medical equipment \u00a0supply company, Adelco Medical Distributors, Inc., billed Medicare for medically unnecessary equipment\u2013 primarily power wheelchairs \u2013 for people often recruited off the street.<\/p>\n

As part of the scheme, which ran from January 2007 through December 2011, Ekwebelem illegally paid kickbacks to \u201cmarketers\u201d who recruited those beneficiaries and then paid kickbacks to a handful of complicit doctors in exchange for fraudulent prescriptions for durable equipment, officials said.<\/p>\n

Those doctors included Dr. Charles Okoye<\/strong>, who was sentenced to two years in federal prison after he plead guilty to conspiring with Ekwebelem to commit health care fraud.<\/p>\n

In addition, Dr. Uche Chukwudi<\/strong>, who fled a month before trial, remains a fugitive. Three of Adelco\u2019s marketers \u2013 Romie Tucker, Cindy Santana<\/strong> and Maritza Hernandez<\/strong> \u2013 have also received sentences of up to two years in prison for their roles in the scheme.<\/p>\n

As the evidence at trial showed, Ekwebelem did more than cause substantial losses to Medicare \u2013 she also caused harm to Medicare beneficiaries. Medicare will only pay for one wheelchair every five years.<\/p>\n

On at least one occasion, Ekwebelem submitted a fraudulent claim to Medicare for a power wheelchair that she did not even let the beneficiary keep, which later prevented the beneficiary from getting a wheelchair when it was actually needed.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES \u2013 A Hawthorne woman who ran a company that submitted more than $7 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare \u2013 primarily for power wheelchairs that were not needed by patients…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-home-main-slider","category-u-s-department-of-justice"],"yoast_head":"\nWoman Ran Wheelchair Scam<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Woman who ran a wheelchair scam that cost Medicare $3.5 million in losses sentenced to prison\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Woman Ran Wheelchair Scam\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Woman who ran a wheelchair scam that cost Medicare $3.5 million in losses sentenced to prison\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"American Justice Notebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-05-01T03:55:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Wheelchair.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"750\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Raul\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Raul\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\"},\"headline\":\"Woman Ripped Off Medicare for $3.5 Million By Running a Wheelchair Scam\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-01T03:55:47+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671\"},\"wordCount\":435,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/04\\\/Wheelchair.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Home Main Slider\",\"U.S. Department of Justice\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671\",\"name\":\"Woman Ran Wheelchair Scam\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/04\\\/Wheelchair.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-05-01T03:55:47+00:00\",\"description\":\"Woman who ran a wheelchair scam that cost Medicare $3.5 million in losses sentenced to prison\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?p=11671#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/04\\\/Wheelchair.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2015\\\/04\\\/Wheelchair.jpg\",\"width\":750,\"height\":750},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"description\":\""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"American Justice Notebook\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2014\\\/07\\\/Justice-Scales.jpg\",\"width\":675,\"height\":231,\"caption\":\"American Justice Notebook\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/AmericanJusticeNotebook\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0\",\"name\":\"Raul\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Raul\"},\"description\":\"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/cjnotebook.com\\\/\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Woman Ran Wheelchair Scam","description":"Woman who ran a wheelchair scam that cost Medicare $3.5 million in losses sentenced to prison","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Woman Ran Wheelchair Scam","og_description":"Woman who ran a wheelchair scam that cost Medicare $3.5 million in losses sentenced to prison","og_url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671","og_site_name":"American Justice Notebook","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook","article_published_time":"2015-05-01T03:55:47+00:00","og_image":[{"width":750,"height":750,"url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Wheelchair.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Raul","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Raul","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671"},"author":{"name":"Raul","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0"},"headline":"Woman Ripped Off Medicare for $3.5 Million By Running a Wheelchair Scam","datePublished":"2015-05-01T03:55:47+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671"},"wordCount":435,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Wheelchair.jpg","articleSection":["Home Main Slider","U.S. Department of Justice"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671","name":"Woman Ran Wheelchair Scam","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Wheelchair.jpg","datePublished":"2015-05-01T03:55:47+00:00","description":"Woman who ran a wheelchair scam that cost Medicare $3.5 million in losses sentenced to prison","inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=11671#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Wheelchair.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/04\/Wheelchair.jpg","width":750,"height":750},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","name":"American Justice Notebook","description":""Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost." \u2014 Thomas Jefferson","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#organization","name":"American Justice Notebook","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Justice-Scales.jpg","width":675,"height":231,"caption":"American Justice Notebook"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AmericanJusticeNotebook"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/#\/schema\/person\/f5521baddca77b521f012298775186c0","name":"Raul","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c7f80bd073aca2abc2fc18e390e13d00b72d9d3a81bca4fd53e3567b02efee6f?s=96&r=g","caption":"Raul"},"description":"Raul Hernandez is a former journalist. He has worked as a newspaper reporter for more than 30 years at the El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso Times, Press Enterprise in Riverside, California and the Ventura County Star in California. He was a court reporter for more than 20 years.","sameAs":["https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11671"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11671\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11678,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11671\/revisions\/11678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}