Tenn. U.S. Attorney: Memphis Woman Pleads Guilty in $2 Million Healthcare Fraud Scheme

MEMPHIS, Tennessee, Aug. 26 -- The U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, D. Michael Dunavant, issued the following news release on Aug. 25:

Princess Terry, 27, has pleaded guilty to healthcare fraud and aggravated identity theft. D. Michael Dunavant, U.S. Attorney announced the guilty plea today.

According to information presented in Court, Princess Terry owned and operated Caring Hearts Memphis, a home healthcare services business, which purported to provide healthcare services to mostly elderly patients, including home health aides, skilled nursing, and physical and occupational therapy. Between approximately January 1, 2016 and June 27, 2019, Terry submitted over $2 million in fraudulent billing to Humana, a private health insurance provider, for services that were not actually rendered.

Terry's fraudulent billing practices included numerous instances of billing for home health services on days when patients were actually hospitalized, billing for services in excess of 24 hours in a given day for the same patient, and billing for services purportedly rendered after the patient was deceased.

In executing this scheme, Terry also committed aggravated identity theft by forging patients' signatures without their knowledge or permission on consent-for-services forms and progress notes containing fraudulent misrepresentations about services not actually performed.

The defendant pled guilty on August 25, 2020, before U.S. District Court Judge Thomas L. Parker. A sentencing hearing is scheduled on November 6, 2020, where Terry faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years and up to ten years.

U.S. Attorney D. Michael Dunavant said: "This case represents our commitment to expose healthcare fraudulent schemes, protect the integrity of the health insurance system, hold offenders accountable for their dishonest criminal conduct, and to recover ill-gotten proceeds on behalf of victims. The U.S. Attorney's Office is willing and able to go to any lengths in our pursuit of justice in healthcare fraud cases, and we commend the great investigative work of the FBI in this significant fraud case."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Cotten is prosecuting this case on behalf of the government.