Slidell Woman Sentenced to Year and a Day in Prison and Ordered to Repay the Government Over $1.2 Million in Restitution for Pandemic-Related Healthcare Fraud

NEW ORLEANS, LA – U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that MELISSA J. WATSON (“WATSON”), of Slidell, has been sentenced by United States District Judge Darrel J. Papillion to twelve months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, a mandatory $100 special assessment fee, and payment of restitution totaling $1,281,818.

This sentencing followed WATSON’s previous plea of guilty to theft of public money, in connection with a scheme to misappropriate over $780,000 from the Provider Relief Fund (“PRF”).  The PRF was a COVID-19 pandemic relief program administered by the Health Resources and Services Administration.

According to court documents, WATSON operated a primary care clinic.  Following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, WATSON submitted false and fraudulent attestations on behalf of her clinic to obtain PRF funds, to which she was not entitled.  WATSON’s fraudulent attestations included falsely affirming that funds would only be used by the clinic to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the coronavirus, and reimburse health care related expenses or lost revenues attributable to coronavirus.  Instead, WATSON used the PRF funds for personal purposes, including making numerous cash withdrawals and purchasing, among other items, hundreds of thousands of dollars in real estate, a luxury vehicle, a boat, a trailer, and a time share.

Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri, head of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Attorney Evans praised the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General.

Trial Attorney Kelly Z. Walters and Assistant Chief Justin Woodard, both of the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas D. Moses, Healthcare Fraud Coordinator for the Eastern District of Louisiana, prosecuted the case.