A former Marine who participated in a scheme to defraud the military’s TRICARE health care program of more than $65 million was sentenced Friday to 21 months in federal prison.
Joshua Morgan, 31, based at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, recruited fellow service members and their dependents to obtain compounded medications through fake prescriptions, paid for by TRICARE.
Prosecutors say Morgan contributed to nearly $4.5 million in losses through beneficiaries he recruited.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Morgan and others worked for Jimmy and Ashley Collins, a married couple who owned and operated a medical clinic in Tennessee. Two doctors and a nurse practitioner from the Choice MD clinic wrote prescriptions for TRICARE beneficiaries they never met or examined.
Morgan received more than $2.6 million in bribes for service members whose prescriptions resulted in TRICARE reimbursements paid to the pharmacy, prosecutors say.
The prosecution’s sentencing documents say Morgan recruited 28 people but also received compensation for “hundreds of recruits from his direct sub-marketers.”
Morgan was the last of 12 defendants convicted in the case, which was prosecuted in federal court in San Diego.
Others charged in the scheme include former Navy Sailor Kyle Adams, 36, who also recruited military personnel, generating more than $11 million in insurance payouts. He was sentenced last month to 15 months in prison. Jimmy Collins was sentenced to 10 years in prison, while Ashley Collins was sentenced to 18 months of house arrest.
Others convicted include the doctors and nurse practitioners who wrote the fraudulent prescriptions, as well as other service members who recruited military personnel to participate in the fraud.
U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath said in a statement: “Today’s sentencing closes the final chapter of this outrageous fraud scheme that nearly bankrupted TRICARE. »
The U.S. Attorney’s Office said this scheme, combined with several other similar fraudulent schemes operated across the country, put the health care program facing insolvency in mid-2015.
California Daily Newspapers
