Kinston companies, healthcare professionals charged in $14.6 billion national fraud takedown
Two Kinston-based healthcare companies and several individuals have been named in a sweeping federal crackdown on health care fraud, which U.S. officials say is the largest in Department of Justice history.
The DOJ announced this week that 324 defendants across the United States, including 96 medical professionals, face criminal charges in schemes totaling more than $14.6 billion in intended losses to Medicaid, Medicare, and other health programs. More than $245 million in assets have already been seized as part of the investigation.
Among those charged in the Eastern District of North Carolina are Kimberly Mable Sims, Francine Sims Super, and Keke Komeko Johnson. Sims is the owner of 1st Choice Healthcare Services, a lab company in Kinston, while Super served as an office manager and Johnson as a compliance officer. According to federal prosecutors, the three women were involved in a kickback scheme in which patients of Life Touch, LLC—a Kinston-based substance abuse treatment provider—were paid gift cards in exchange for attending treatment sessions.
Court documents allege that from 2019 to 2023, patients were offered up to $60 in gift cards for attending as many as five sessions per week. The government says this arrangement led to more than $25 million in Medicaid payments to Life Touch and an additional stream of revenue to 1st Choice, which performed lab testing services for Life Touch patients.
Sims has pleaded guilty in the case. Super and Johnson were additionally charged with failure to file tax returns. The DOJ says more than $6 million in Life Touch assets, including cash and real estate, have been seized. Brandon Eugene Sims and Life Touch had previously been charged in the same matter.
“These defendants allegedly defrauded programs entrusted for the care of the elderly and disabled to line their own pockets,” the DOJ stated in a press release issued Monday. Acting U.S. Attorney Daniel P. Bubar added that the charges “demonstrate our office’s resolve to pursue those who attempt to profit by violating federal law and jeopardizing public resources.”
The DOJ says the fraud takedown includes schemes involving illegal kickbacks, falsified billing for durable medical equipment, and improper documentation of mental health services. Randal Fenton Wood of Flagler Beach, Florida, was charged in a separate North Carolina case for allegedly billing Medicare and other programs $39 million for medically unnecessary equipment through his Winston-Salem-based company.
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