The president of a behavioral health practice in North Carolina has pleaded guilty in federal court to conspiring to defraud Medicaid.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District said 46-year-old Shepard Lee Spruill II of Winterville faces up to 15 years in prison, $500,000 in fines and three years of supervised release. Spruill also agreed to pay more than $1.8 million in restitution to the state Medicaid program.
Prosecutors said Spruill gave patient names and Medicaid identification numbers obtained through his practice to two men who used them to bill Medicaid for more than $2 million in fake services. After Medicaid sent payment to one of the men, Spruill received a cut.
Spruill also admitted telling a grand jury he had no relationship with one of the co-conspirators.