Sweeping health care fraud arrests made

HOUSTON — Several Houston area residents and others are now charged in six separate cases in the Southern District of Texas (SDTX) with varying counts related to the Justice Department’s 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action, announced U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.

Those charged in the SDTX include Houston residents Sharon Pickrom, 64, Darlene Burbridge, 65, and Carmalita Landry, 53; as well as Ijeoma Victoria Ehieze, 61, Katy; Michael Ogbebor, 43, Richmond; and Harold Albert “Al” Knowles, 56, Delray Beach, Florida, Chantal Swart, 49, Boca Raton, Florida, and Svitlana Meier, 50, Clearwater, Florida.

The charges are part of a strategically coordinated, two-week law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against a total of 193 people nationwide for their alleged participation in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes that resulted in the submission of over $2.75 billion in alleged false billings.

They allegedly defrauded programs entrusted for the care of the elderly and disabled to line their own pockets. In connection with the enforcement action, authorities seized over $231 million in cash, luxury vehicles, gold and other assets.

A federal grand jury indicted Pickrom June 12 with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and paying and receiving kickbacks as well as receipt of kickbacks in connection with a $1.7 million health care fraud and kickback scheme. Pickrom allegedly controlled a purported nonprofit corporation, referred false and fraudulent prescriptions that prescribers issued without their knowledge in the name of Department of Labor - Office of Workers’ Compensation Programs (DOL-OWCP) claimants, often without their knowledge, to Custom Care Pharmacy in exchange for illegal kickbacks.

In a separate but related case, Burbridge and Landry were charged by information with one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States and paying and receiving kickbacks in connection with the same $1.7 million scheme. As alleged in the information, Burbridge owned Criterion Therapy Center, a physical therapy company that serviced DOL-OWCP claimants. She allegedly referred prescriptions to Landry, a pharmacist and owner of Custom Care Pharmacy, in exchange for illegal kickbacks and bribes.