Medicare Recipient Pleads Guilty to Health Care Fraud
- Defendant Used Forged Receipts to Collect More Than $71,000 -

     WASHINGTON - Walt R. Wilson, 42, of Washington, D.C., has pled guilty to the lead count in an indictment, health care fraud, stemming from a scheme involving more than $71,000 in fraudulent Medicare payments.

     The guilty plea was announced today by U.S. Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr., Nicholas DiGiulio, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS - OIG) Philadelphia Region, and James W. McJunkin, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI’s Washington Field Office.

     Wilson entered his guilty plea on December 20, 2011 before the Honorable James E. Boasberg in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Wilson is to be sentenced on March 14, 2012. Under federal sentencing guidelines, he faces a possible sentence of 12 to 21 months of incarceration, as well as restitution of approximately $71,000, a fine, and forfeiture.

     According to the indictment and statement of offense, from about March 2010 to October 2011, Wilson submitted claim forms with forged prescription receipt labels falsely stating that he paid money out-of-pocket for drugs and medicines and was thereby entitled to reimbursement from Medicare. He submitted at least 14 claims seeking reimbursements for prescription drug expenses purportedly paid by him. He attached to these claims forms more than 90 prescription receipts, all but one of which were false and forged. These receipts had been altered to change the amount paid by him from nothing or negligible amounts to hundreds or thousands of dollars.

     As a result of the forged prescription receipts and false claims, Wilson fraudulently caused Medicare to pay him more than $71,000 and sought to receive through his false claims more than $98,000.

     In announcing the plea, U.S. Attorney Machen, Special Agent in Charge DiGiulio, and Assistant Director in Charge McJunkin commended the work of Special Agents with the FBI’s Washington Field Office and HHS-OIG. They also cited the efforts of the staff of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, including Paralegal Specialists Diane Hayes and Sarah Reis, and Assistant U.S. Attorneys in the Asset Forfeiture and Money Laundering Section, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Virginia Cheatham, who is prosecuting the case.

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