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Miami Woman Pleads Guilty to $6.5 Million Medicare Fraud
Conspiracy
Edmund A. Booth, Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia,
announced today that Riccy Mederos, a resident of Miami, Florida, entered a guilty plea in
United States District Court before Chief Judge William T. Moore , Jr. to Conspiracy to Commit
Health Care Fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 371, and Health Care
Fraud in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1347.
Booth noted that the indictment against Mederos arose out of Operation Redex Infuscam,
a major investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Office of Health and
Human Services (HHS) into fraudulent infusion billings to Medicare in and around the Southern
District of Georgia.
According to Booth, the evidence at the guilty plea hearing showed that from December
2005 through March 2008, Mederos conspired to bill over $6.5 million in fraudulent infusion
claims to Medicare for United Therapy, a clinic located on Broughton Street which provided
infusion therapy services. The evidence showed that Mederos, along with the assistance of her
coconspirators, devised a scheme to defraud Medicare by recruiting patients for United Therapy
from local homeless shelters and Section VIII housing, and, although many of these purported
patients did not suffer from any medical problems, or did not receive any medical treatment from
United Therapy, submitting $6.5 million dollars of phony infusion therapy bills for services that
were never actually provided.
Booth noted that Mederos now faces a maximum statutory penalty of fifteen (15) years
imprisonment; a fine of $500,000; and three (3) years of supervised release. Mederos remains on
bond pending sentence, which will be held upon the completion of a pre-sentence investigation
and report.
Booth praised the work of Special Agents Mark A. Alig and Joshua Hayes of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation, along with Special Agent David Graupner of the Office of Inspector
General for HHS, who lead the on-going investigation of Operation Redex Infuscam. The
government was represented by Brian T. Rafferty, Assistant United States Attorney for the
Southern District of Georgia.
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