A Midlothian woman has been indicted on charges related to a health-care fraud conspiracy that she allegedly ran from prison.
Alexis C. Norman, 46, is charged with running an operation involving more than $810,000 in false Medicaid claims. She is scheduled to make her initial appearance in federal court Friday,
Norman originally pleaded guilty in August 2015 to one count of health-care fraud in a false-billing scheme she ran involving two companies she owned and operated, Greater Southwest Group Inc. and Ellis County Community Services.
In that scheme, Norman used identities of licensed counselors and Medicaid clients without their knowledge or consent to submit false claims for psychotherapy services. Norman, who is neither licensed as a psychotherapist or any sort of mental health professional, was sentenced last year to nearly nine years in federal prison and ordered to repay nearly $3 million to Medicaid.
The new indictment charges Norman with running a similar operation while awaiting sentencing in the previous case and continuing to do so after she began her prison sentence. Authorities say Norman, along with a co-conspirator, ran two counseling companies, Janus Children Services Inc. and Therapeutic Outreach Services, and obtained Medicaid provider numbers for licensed mental health professionals by advertising jobs on Craigslist but not actually hiring anyone.
Norman and her co-conspirator then used those numbers, along with the personal information of more than 150 Medicaid clients, most of them children, to submit false claims.
Furthermore, the indictment alleges, Norman and a co-conspirator opened bank accounts and leased office space in Tyler and Waco for the two respective companies in an attempt to conceal the fraud while never actually using the office space.
She then lied at her sentencing, authorities say, by failing to disclose those operations when asked about other such activities at her April 2016 sentencing, when in fact, she had submitted $1,575,000 in false claims through Janus just the day before.
Norman is charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, four counts of health care fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft. If convicted, she would have to forfeit any property related to the offenses.
Each count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud could net up to a 10-year prison sentence and a $250,000 fine, while the aggravated identify theft charges could each result in up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine.