Over $600 Million in Texas Health Care Fraud and Drug Trafficking Cases Uncovered

Federal authorities have charged multiple individuals and companies across Texas with extensive health care fraud schemes and illegal distribution of controlled substances totaling over $600 million in false claims and illicit drug sales.

Health Care Fraud Charges

• Demitrious Gilmore, 46, Lubbock: Owner of WM Wellness, LLC and Gilmorehands, Inc., Gilmore is charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud involving about $19 million in false claims submitted to the Department of Labor’s Office of Workers Compensation Program (DOL-OWCP). The claims included expensive knee braces, physical therapy during surgery, platelet rich plasma treatments, and at-home ultrasonic devices that were medically unnecessary, not provided, or misrepresented. Authorities seized over $1 million from Gilmore’s bank accounts.
• Gary Martin, 62, McKinney: Owner of medical clinics, Martin faces charges for a $73 million Medicare fraud scheme that billed for over-the-counter COVID-19 tests not requested by beneficiaries, including deceased patients. The scheme involved paying kickbacks for Medicare beneficiary information and used sham agreements to hide the fraud.
• Khadeer Khan Mohammed, 44, Richardson: Owner of American Premier Labs LLC, Mohammed allegedly submitted $93 million in false Medicare claims for genetic testing that was never requested or performed, using physicians’ identities without their consent. Medicare paid about $65 million of these claims. Nearly $6 million was seized from his accounts.
• Olatunbosun Osukoya, 67, Plano: Owner of Ayo Biometrics LLC d/b/a Cambridge Diagnostics, Osukoya is charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud involving over $25 million in fraudulent EEG testing claims submitted to Medicare, TRICARE, and other insurers. He allegedly paid over $450,000 in kickbacks disguised as loans and consultation fees to physicians for patient referrals. Cambridge Diagnostics received more than $5 million.
• Rami Abunakira, 39, Richmond: Charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and pay health care kickbacks through three Dallas-area laboratories including LabCare and GeneTX. Abunakira helped conceal ownership to bill Medicare for medically unnecessary genetic tests, submitting $51.5 million in false claims with $33.5 million paid by Medicare.
• Daphne Johnson, 60, Stafford: Charged with billing Medicaid $793,804 for mental health therapy services never provided, receiving over $331,000 from the fraudulent scheme.
• Carlos Munoz, 57, Richmond, and Dera Ogudo, 39, Richmond: Munoz, a doctor, and Ogudo, owner of United Palliative & Hospice Company (UPHC), face charges involving over $110 million in false hospice claims billed to Medicare and Medicaid for patients who were not terminally ill. Ogudo paid kickbacks to group home owners and hospital discharge coordinators to enroll beneficiaries.

Illegal Controlled Substance Distribution

• Sacha Lashun Betts, 47, Houston, and Co-Conspirators: Betts and six others operated a drug trafficking organization controlling over a dozen “front” pharmacies distributing more than 4.4 million doses of opioids and other prescription drugs, worth over $75 million on the street. Betts financed and controlled the pharmacies remotely beginning in 2019.
• Jason Bruce, 56, League City; Gerren Brignac, 36, Rosharon; Ronald Martin, 45, Sugarland: Owners and pharmacist-in-charge of Ennis St. Pharmacy charged with distributing over 113,000 hydrocodone and 73,000 carisoprodol pills to street dealers.
• Trevor L. Cherry, 51, Houston; Douglas M. Parks III, 35, Katy; Evelyn Ngozi-Emeka Onukwube, 53, Indiana: Charged with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances and money laundering involving half a million opioid pills sold on the black market valued at about $8 million.
• Alvin Elliott, 56, Katy: Charged with distributing over 2,000 oxycodone, 800 hydrocodone, and 2,000 carisoprodol pills illegally to black market buyers.
• Keilan Peterson (“Young Jay”), 38, Houston, and Kimberly Martinez, 47, Houston: Charged for operating Relief Medical Center and GroveCare clinics where doctors’ electronic prescribing credentials were used to issue over 2 million illegitimate controlled substance pills including oxycodone, hydrocodone, and carisoprodol, with street values in the millions. Authorities seized cash, jewelry, and properties in connection to the case.
• Maryam “Meg” Qayum, 67, New Caney, and associates: Operated Recare Clinic as a pill mill distributing over 3 million opioids, including oxycodone and hydrocodone. Qayum and others paid cash to drug traffickers and used complicit pharmacies for dispensing.
• Richard Rose Jr., 51, Manvel, and others: Charged with operating Live Rite Pharmacy and Meds4Less Pharmacy, which distributed at least 566,000 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills and 51,000 carisoprodol pills to drug dealers. The group also engaged in money laundering to disguise proceeds.
• Andre Williams, 53, Pearland, and Monique Washington, 44, Fairburn, Georgia: Operated ServMed Pharmacy selling over 270,000 pills of various controlled substances with a street value exceeding $2.8 million.
• Nathaniel and Raquel Mitchell, Tracy Flanigan, and Robin Turner: Operated RM Pharmacy as a front distributing more than 113,900 oxycodone and hydrocodone pills, and 28,300 carisoprodol pills to drug traffickers.

Additional Charges

• Chad Harper, 49, Pearland: Charged with conspiracy to defraud the U.S., health care fraud, money laundering, and bank fraud related to $115 million in Medicare fraud for genetic testing.
• David Jenson, 57, and Nestor Rafael Romero Magallanes, 29, Spring: Charged with conspiracy, health care fraud, and money laundering involving $90 million in false Medicare claims for expensive skin substitutes not medically necessary.
• Tyneza P. Mitchell, 43, Spring: Charged with wire fraud for billing over $2 million for COVID-19 related services not provided.
• Carlos Munoz, 57, Richmond: Charged with accepting over $300,000 in kickbacks for certifying patients for hospice services they did not need.

Federal prosecutors from multiple U.S. Attorney’s Offices and Strike Forces across Texas are prosecuting the cases. Authorities have seized millions in cash, cryptocurrency, bank accounts, and real estate tied to the alleged crimes. The cases highlight ongoing federal efforts to combat health care fraud and the opioid epidemic in Texas. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.