Justice Department announces federal charges in Southern California health care, hospice fraud investigation

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Justice Department announces federal charges in Southern California health care, hospice fraud investigation

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that eight people have been arrested and federally charged in connection with a health care and hospice fraud investigation.

At a news conference on Thursday morning, Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said that the eight defendants, including three nurses, a chiropractor and a psychologist, are charged with defrauding the health care system out of more than $50 million.

Essayli said the individuals are accused of running fraudulent hospice care facilities that billed Medicare by using people without terminal illnesses as beneficiaries.

CBS News has been investigating hospice fraud across Los Angeles County. According to CBS News analysis, over 700 of the roughly 1,800 hospices in LA County trigger multiple red flags for fraud as defined by the state. The crackdown on fraud across the country has grown significantly. Vice President JD Vance was recently named the head of an anti-fraud initiative.

“The Southern California region is a high-risk environment for hospice-related and many other forms of health care fraud,” said Akil Davis, the Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s LA Field Office. “The United States loses hundreds of billions of dollars annually to healthcare fraud at the expense of all American taxpayers, whose benefits decrease as premiums, co-payments and taxes grow.”

Among those arrested were Gladwin and Amelou Gill, a doctor and psychologist who co-own 626 Hospice, which does business as St. Francis Palliative Care, according to the FBI.

The couple is charged with fraud and court documents say they allegedly defrauded Medicare by paying illegal kickbacks for the referral of patients who were not dying. The couple also allegedly submitted more than $5.2 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for hospice services that were not provided or medically necessary. Medicare paid the Gills more than $4 million on the fraudulent claims.

“We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy for criminals who defraud American taxpayers,” Essayli said. “The defendants arrested this morning, who are charged with stealing millions of dollars of health care benefits, got caught and now face years in federal prison.”

Also charged with health care fraud is Lolita Beronilla Minerd, a licensed vocational nurse from Anaheim. Court documents said Minerd owned and operated the Artesia-based Topanga Hospice Care Inc. She is accused of using her business to submit fraudulent hospice claims to Medicare totaling more than $9 million, which paid more than $8 million on those claims.

Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, a thrice-convicted health care fraudster who is currently incarcerated at a federal prison in Seattle, is accused of working with her husband, Adolfo Catbagan, from Glendale, to operate at least three fraudulent hospice care facilities.

Palma and Catbagan are charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and health care fraud and 10 counts of health care fraud.

According to court documents, from June 2022 to April 2024, Palma and Catbagan opened three Glendale-based hospice care facilities: One Up Hospice Care Inc., Rosewood Hospice and Palliative Care Inc., and Advance Hospice and Palliative Care Inc.

Palma and Catbagan allegedly submitted fraudulent claims to Medicare for beneficiaries who were not terminally ill and for patients who did not receive services. They are accused of submitting at least $4.8 million in fraudulent claims through their companies, which resulted in at least $4.2 million in payments.

Sonia Griffen from Lakewood is charged in a five-count indictment for health care fraud. The DOJ alleges that from April 2019 to May 2024, she submitted nearly $5 million in fraudulent claims to ILWU-PMA’s health care plan through her wellness company, Bee Well Holistic Wellness Center.

Griffen is accused of submitting $4.9 million in fraudulent claims to the ILWU-PMA plan, which resulted in almost $2.5 million in payments.

“Health care fraud undermines federal programs, threatens public trust, diverts resources away from legitimate patient care, and is a calculated attack on programs meant to protect the vulnerable,” said Tyler Hatcher, Special Agent in Charge, IRS‑CI Los Angeles Field Office. “The enforcement actions taken today demonstrate IRS‑CI’s commitment to uncovering the financial lies behind these schemes and holding accountable those who profit at the expense of taxpayers and patients.”