6 Kentuckians, including a Glasgow woman, charged following nationwide healthcare fraud operation

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – A Glasgow woman has indicted on charges following a nationwide healthcare fraud operation.

According to a release from the Western District of Kentucky, six Kentuckians face criminal charges in connection with schemes to defraud health care benefit programs and misuse of controlled substances.

The charges are part of the Justice Department’s 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action.

Among those charged is Carissa Uptegraff, 44, of Glasgow. Uptegraff, a pharmacy employee, was charged by indictment with theft of medical products.

The indictment alleges that Uptegraff stole oxycodone valued at over $5,000.

According to the indictment, the thefts occurred at two different pharmacies before oxycodone became available for retail purchase by a consumer. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ansari of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.

Shafi Abbas, 57, of Pendleton, Kentucky, was charged by information with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering in connection with an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain over $2.6 million in Medicare funds. According to the information, Abbas, through Aidmen Medical Equipment LLC and Justright Medical Equipment LLC, fraudulently billed Medicare for durable medical equipment, which was medically unnecessary, unwanted by patients, and not prescribed by the patients’ medical providers. Based on those false and fraudulent claims, Medicare paid approximately $1.3 million. In addition, Abbas allegedly transferred offshore the proceeds of health care fraud in a value greater than $10,000. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ansari of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.

Dr. Lawrence Peters, 62, of Louisville, Kentucky, was charged by information with conspiracy to illegally use a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number issued to another. According to the information, Peters allegedly conspired with others in his medical practice to issue pre-signed and unsigned prescriptions for Schedule II controlled substances and further directed his staff to fill the prescriptions at his physician’s owned pharmacy. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Joseph Ansari and Chris Tieke of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.

Tammy Daniels, also known as Tammy Richardson, 55, of Louisville, Kentucky, was charged by indictment with wire fraud and health care fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain over $750,000 from her employer, a medical practice, and over $422,000 in Medicare funds. According to the indictment, Daniels was employed as the accounts manager for a medical practice when she used the medical practice’s credit cards to purchase personal items, transferred money from the practice’s bank account to pay the credit card invoices, transferred money from the practice’s bank account to pay for other personal credit card purchases, and used her access and position to bill for false and fraudulent medical procedures to pay credit card invoices in order to hide the unlawful use of the credit cards, all without her employer’s knowledge and authorization. As a result of the fraudulent scheme, health care benefit programs, including Medicare, paid over $79,000. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Ansari of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.

Michael Boaz, 45, and Christopher Augustus, 40, of Clinton, Kentucky were charged by indictment with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud, and aggravated identity theft in connection with an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain over $1,000,000 from health care benefit programs. According to the indictment, Boaz and Augustus falsely and fraudulently billed various health care benefit programs for medications dispensed from the Clinton and Bardwell Pharmacies by using material misrepresentations, material omissions, and deception in order to obtain authorization for the medications from physicians and nurse practitioners. In addition, the indictment alleges that Boaz and Augustus knowingly possessed, transferred, or used the means of identification two individuals, a nurse practitioner, and a physician, including the individuals’ names and unique National Provider Identifier numbers, without lawful authority, in relation to the health care fraud. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Raymond McGee of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Kentucky.

The charges were announced Thursday by U.S. Attorney Michael A. Bennett. Officials say 193 defendants have received charges following the two-week nationwide law enforcement action. The alleged schemes total over $2.75 billion in alleged false billings.

The release goes on to say, “the defendants allegedly defrauded programs entrusted for the care of the elderly and disabled to line their own pockets, and the Government, in connection with the enforcement action, seized over $231 million in cash, luxury vehicles, gold and other assets.”