Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release
January 18, 2011 United States Attorney’s Office
Northern District of Ohio
Contact: (216) 622-3600

Inmate Who Ran a Quarter-Million-Dollar Identity Theft Ring from Inside Federal Prison Receives an Additional 14.5 Years in Prison

The man who led an identity-theft ring that ran up a quarter-million dollars worth of charges from inside a federal prison was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison, Steven M. Dettelbach, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today.

“The defendant thought he found a way to occupy his time in prison,” Dettelbach said. “With this prosecution and this sentence, he’ll have lots more time to learn to follow the rules.”

Dimorio McDowell, age 34, of Atlanta, Georgia, previously pled guilty to aggravated identity theft and conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud. McDowell was an inmate at Fort Dix Federal Correctional Institution at the time of the scheme, which took place between August 2009 and April 2010. U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent ordered McDowell’s 174-month sentence on this case begin in 2014, when he completes the current sentence that resulted in his incarceration at Fort Dix.

McDowell was the ringleader who obtained personal information on people who had credit card accounts at various retailers, including Best Buy, Home Depot, J.C. Penney, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Nordstrom’s, Saks Fifth Avenue, Sears and Staples, according to court documents.

McDowell contacted the retailers and impersonated the true account holders, store employees, or corporate fraud investigators. He used information about the account holders, such as name, address, or Social Security number during those calls to obtain additional information about them and adding co-conspirators names as authorized users of the accounts, thus taking over the accounts, according to court documents.

After taking over the accounts, adding additional users to the accounts and opening new accounts, McDowell communicated with his co-conspirators, all of whom lived in the Cleveland area.

McDowell continued to run his scheme from prison even after he was charged and after he pled guilty. He also posed as a deputy U.S. Marshal over the telephone and attempted to have prisoners moved, according to information presented during the sentencing hearing.

Overall, the ring purchased more than $254,000 worth of merchandise as part of their scheme, according to court documents.

Also charged in the case are: Andre Reese, 37; Jeffery McClain, 39; Kevin McBride, 34; Michael Sailes, 51; Edwin Peavy, 52; Daniel Ashford, 37; James L. Wiggins, 47, and Jay Williams, 27, all of Cleveland, Ohio. All have entered guilty plea to charges against them.

This prosecution is the result of cooperation from a number of law enforcement agencies who identified the defendants, gathered the evidence and prepared the case for prosecution. The investigative team included the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Cleveland Division and Trenton Resident Agency, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons, the Postal Inspection Service, Bath Township Police Department, Stow Police Department, Mentor Police Department and other state and local law enforcement agencies. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew B. Kall.

“This case is a stark reminder about the need to protect yourself from identity theft and fraud,” Dettelbach said. “I want to thank the FBI, the Bureau of Prisons and all our partners who made prosecuting this case possible.”

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Department of Justice Press Release

For Immediate Release
January 20, 2011 U.S. Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
(202) 514-2007/TDD (202) 514-1888

Two Owners of Houston Health Care Company Plead Guilty to Alleged $5.2 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

WASHINGTON—Two owners of a Houston health care company pled guilty today in connection with an alleged $5.2 million Medicare fraud scheme, announced the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services (HHS).

Clifford Ubani, 52, and Princewill Njoku, 51, each pled guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Nancy Atlas in Houston to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of conspiracy to pay kickbacks and 16 counts of payment of kickbacks to Medicare beneficiary recruiters.

According to court documents, Ubani and Njoku were owners and operators of Family Healthcare Group (Family Group), a home health care company. Family Group purported to provide skilled nursing to Medicare beneficiaries. According to court documents, Ubani and Njoku hired co-conspirators to recruit Medicare beneficiaries for the purpose of filing claims with Medicare for skilled nursing that was medically unnecessary and/or not provided. Ubani and Njoku admitted that they paid kickbacks to the recruiters for their referrals.

Ubani and Njoku previously pled guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud related to their ownership of another Houston health care company, Family Healthcare Services (Family Services). Family Services submitted approximately $1.1 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for the costs of durable medical equipment.

At sentencing, scheduled for July 19, 2011, Ubani and Njoku each face a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison for each health care fraud conspiracy count, five years in prison for each kickback conspiracy count and five years in prison for each kickback count.

Today’s guilty pleas were announced by Assistant Attorney General of the Criminal Division Lanny A. Breuer; U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno of the Southern District of Texas; Special Agent-in-Charge Richard C. Powers of the FBI’s Houston Field Office; Special Agent-in-Charge Mike Fields of the Dallas Regional Office of HHS Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG), Office of Investigations; and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott.

This case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Charles D. Reed and Laura Cordova, and Assistant Chief Sam S. Sheldon of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section. The case was brought as part of the Medicare Fraud Strike Force, supervised by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas and the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section.

Since their inception in March 2007, Medicare Fraud Strike Force operations in seven districts have obtained indictments of more than 850 individuals who collectively have falsely billed the Medicare program for more than $2.1 billion. In addition, HHS’s Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, working in conjunction with the HHS-OIG, are taking steps to increase accountability and decrease the presence of fraudulent providers.

To learn more about the Health Care Fraud Prevention and Enforcement Action Team (HEAT), go to: www.stopmedicarefraud.gov

Press Releases | Houston Home

The thieves are always ready to take your money or your identity. Thinking gift card? Trying the auction websites? The FBI this year has posted the top ways to prevent the various types of scams from happening to you or your family or your business: http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/escams_112410
For more information on e-scams, including take over of financial accounts of small to medium size businesses visit the FBI’s E-Scams and Warnings web page: www.fbi.gov/scams-safety/e-scams

It can happen to you. Worse it can happen to your children. Computer hackers. Taking control of you computer. Watching every move. The hacker used social networking sites to spread a virus and infect computers with malicious code, thus infect and take over more than 100 computers. This is more than just identity theft, it was for extortion and control. Read the following FBI press release and verify you have not had communications with the screen names or email addresses listed: http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2010/november/web-of-victims/web-of-victims

Oaks Diagnostics of Beverly Hills, California, has paid the federal government $647,000 to settle allegations that it filed false claims with Medicare for unnecessary radiological tests, reported the U.S. Attorney’s Office Central District of California. They have settled without admitting any wrong doing. See article at HealthImaging.com:
http://www.healthimaging.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=23030:california-rad-provider-settles-whistleblower-case-for-647k