FBI announces SoCal arrests in major hospice care fraud bust; taxpayer losses exceed $50M

The FBI announced Thursday the arrests of 8 of 15 defendants charged in connection with a massive multimillion-dollar health care fraud scheme.

Arrests were made in Los Angeles County and surrounding areas, as well as Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Some of the defendants were healthcare professionals, including nurses, psychologists and chiropractors, authorities said.

It was stated that the taxpayers’ loss exceeded 50 million dollars. Ministry of Justice.

Six of the defendants arrested Thursday are expected to make their initial court appearances in United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon.

Details about the operation, which is part of the Vice President’s Fraud Elimination Task Force, were released Thursday. FBI officials said they have a zero-tolerance policy against anyone accused of defrauding American taxpayers.

“This morning we conducted Operation Never Say Die,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. “Federal agents from multiple agencies cracked down on crooks in Southern California, executing multiple arrest and search warrants.”

Essayli announced that eight people, including doctors and nurses, were arrested and charges were filed against 15 different people who participated in nine separate healthcare fraud investigations.

Among those arrests are the owners of nursing homes, which Essayli alleges were billed millions of dollars to taxpayers to serve terminally ill patients who were said to be not sick at all.

The defendants include three nurses, a chiropractor and a psychologist. Authorities allege they operate fraudulent hospice care facilities that deplete Medicare by using individuals without terminal illnesses as beneficiaries.

All face years in federal prison.

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According to the Department of Justice, the United States loses billions of dollars each year to healthcare fraud, and American taxpayers pay the price; sudden increases in premiums, contributions and also taxes.

Operation Never Die was created to go after those who abused the system; In this case, the defendants allegedly turned hospice care into a money-making operation.

For example, two of the suspects, 66-year-old psychologist Gladwin Gill and his wife, Covena nurse Amelou Gill, allegedly operated a Glendale-based hospice care facility and planned to defraud Medicare by “paying purported kickbacks for referrals of patients who did not die.”

The couple allegedly laundered the money and then spent it on things like mortgage payments, car payments, personal bills, trips, and also eating out.

The 15 defendants associated with 9 investigations by the Ministry of Justice are:

• Lolita Beronilla Minerd65-year-old licensed vocational nurse from Anaheim

• Gladwin Gill66-year-old psychologist and his wife Amelou GillA 70-year-old registered nurse, both from Covina.

• Nita Almuete Paddit PalmaA 76-year-old, three-time convicted health care fraudster is currently incarcerated in a federal prison in Seattle, and her husband, Adolfo Catbagan68, of Glendale

• Evelyn Tindimobuna51, a licensed vocational nurse from Chatsworth

• Ivan Verne Lauritzen50 from Simi Valley

• Tolu Aulava-Moala51, from Carson; John Nicola77, from El Segundo, a licensed chiropractor; Crystal Richter40, from Torrance, owner of a medical billing company; John Keohuloa49, from Long Beach

• Gregory Cartmell62, Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, licensed chiropractor and accomplice Vincent Surace87, from McKinney, Texas

• Sonia Griffen51, of Lakewood

• Young Joo Ko59, from East Hollywood and legal permanent resident from South Korea

You can learn more details about each study Here.

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