Federal prosecutors have shut down a substance abuse treatment network rooted in Kinston and Goldsboro, handing out prison time, crushing financial penalties and a corporate death sentence for what they say was a years-long Medicaid scam worth more than $12.7 million.
The operation, known as Life Touch and operating clinics in both cities, targeted people seeking help for addiction, then allegedly turned them into billable units. Investigators say the network paid patients in gift cards as kickbacks and pushed bogus lab work through a related company in order to yank federal money away from the very Medicaid system meant to support vulnerable patients.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina, the scheme ran from 2018 through 2023 and generated roughly $12.7 million in fake billings, with more than $1 million paid out in illegal kickbacks to patients. Prosecutors say a judge ordered the seizure of more than $6 million in assets, dissolved Life Touch LLC and imposed a $15 million corporate fine.
How Prosecutors Say The Scam Rolled Out
Prosecutors allege Life Touch billed Medicaid for intensive outpatient treatment and laboratory services after luring patients with gift cards tied to showing up for services. The lab side of the operation allegedly ran through 1st Choice Healthcare Services, a lab company owned by a co-conspirator, which handled what investigators describe as sham testing referrals.
Court filings and local reporting reviewed by Goldsboro Daily News say staff falsified records to hide the kickback gift cards from Medicaid auditors and then lied during a civil investigation into the business. On paper, it looked like treatment; behind the scenes, investigators say it was a kickback mill.
Prison Time, Massive Payback Orders
The U.S. Attorney’s Office lists four defendants and a long tab that now comes due.
Keke Komeko Johnson and Francine Sims Super were each sentenced to six years in federal prison and ordered to repay $15,286,912.91 to North Carolina Medicaid. Kimberly Mable Sims received a two-year sentence, while Brandon Eugene Sims was sentenced to two years and six months.
On top of the individual sentences, Life Touch LLC itself was ordered to pay a $15 million corporate fine, dissolve as a company and repay $12,762,511.30 to Medicaid. Prosecutors say the defendants also owe additional money to the IRS and face forfeiture of cash, vehicles and real estate tied to the scheme.
Feds Send A Message On Health Care Fraud
Investigators from the FBI, IRS Criminal Investigation and the inspector general’s office at the Department of Health and Human Services said the case is part of a broader push to protect federal health care programs and the people who depend on them. In other words, if you are thinking about turning Medicaid into your personal ATM, they are watching.
Case numbers, sentencing documents and related filings for the prosecutions are available through the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina website for anyone who wants a closer look at how the scheme played out on the record.
