Three plead guilty to $3.6M in Medicaid fraud, attorney general says
Three Marylanders pleaded guilty to more than $3.6 million in Medicaid fraud, Maryland Attorney General Anthony G. Brown said Monday, outlining a scheme involving behavioral health companies.
Between 2019 and 2024, the three individuals operated two companies to falsely bill for psychiatric rehabilitation program services, the Office of the Attorney General said in a news release Monday.
The companies, Guiding Lives, Inc. and Another Chance Supportive Services, Inc., were located at 6305 Belair Road in Baltimore.
Tasha S. Saunders, of Parkville, pleaded guilty in February to 'two counts of defrauding the Maryland Medicaid program of more than $3.6 million by billing for mental health services that were never provided,' the release said.
Saunders was previously convicted for another Medicaid fraud scheme in 2021. In that case, she was sentenced to nine months of jail time, nine months of home detention and five years of supervised probation. In addition, she was also ordered to pay over $470,000 in restitution, according to the release. She was also barred from participating in federal health care programs in the future.
In her previous guilty plea, Saunders admitted to stealing the identities of licensed counselors, faking patient files and making fraudulent Medicaid claims for psychiatric rehab services that were never provided. Despite the conviction, she continued the scheme, according to the release..
Robert Higgins pleaded guilty for his role in operating the two fraudulent behavioral health companies with Saunders. He agreed to pay back $341,900, according to the release.
Tamyra Jordan, Saunders' daughter, pleaded guilty to defrauding Medicaid of almost $300,000, the release says. Online court records show Higgins' guilty plea was in March, while Jordan's was earlier this month.
Saunders orchestrated Guiding Lives from jail via Jordan and Higgins before creating Another Chance Supportive Services in 2022, the release says.
'Jordan and Higgins forged signatures[,] created fake patient records and stole the identities of both providers and recipients to submit false claims,' the release says . When Saunders formed Another Chance, she hid her ownership by using others' stolen personal information, it says.
For violating her probation, Saunders was sentenced to three and half years of incarceration, the release says. Higgins and Saunders will be sentenced in July; Jordan's sentencing is in November.
Jordan's attorney, Peter S. O'Neill, declined to comment. Higgins' and Saunders' attorneys could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.
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