Conyers Therapy Center Owner Billed Medicaid Using a Dead Psychiatrist's Name

A Fulton County grand jury has indicted the 74-year-old owner of a metro Atlanta mental health provider on charges he kept billing Medicaid under a psychiatrist's name for roughly two years after the doctor had died. Desmond Maul, of Conyers, is accused of collecting more than $88,000 in Medicaid payments between August 2021 and September 2023 for services tied to a psychiatrist who was no longer alive.

Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr announced the indictment Tuesday, saying the grand jury returned the charges on August 18. According to the Georgia Attorney General's Office, Maul is charged with one count of Medicaid fraud and 32 counts of making false statements and writings, for a total of 33 felony counts. Maul is the owner of Family 360, Inc., an outpatient mental health and chemical dependency service provider registered in Conyers.

“When someone takes advantage of a system designed to assist our most vulnerable Georgians, we don't turn a blind eye,” Carr said in the announcement. The case was investigated and presented to the grand jury by the Medicaid Fraud and Patient Protection Division within the Attorney General's Office, the unit responsible for policing healthcare billing fraud and pursuing both criminal prosecutions and civil recoveries involving Georgia Medicaid funds.

A Psychiatrist's Signature, Used After Death

As first reported by WSB-TV, Family 360 began working with a licensed psychiatrist in 2018 to provide services to its Medicaid members. That psychiatrist died in 2021. Investigators in Carr's office allege that after the doctor's death, Maul put the psychiatrist's name and signature on treatment notes and continued billing Medicaid for services as if the psychiatrist had personally performed or supervised them.

Founded in 2014, Family 360 offers outpatient mental health and chemical dependency services aimed at children, adolescents, veterans, the elderly, and adults, according to Family 360 Counseling Center. The company provides individual, couples, and group therapy across those populations. Federal provider registration records show Family 360 Incorporated was listed under the National Provider Identifier database in February 2011, with Maul named as its owner and authorized official.

What Remains Unclear

It is not yet known whether patients at Family 360 received care from staff without proper credentials during the two-year period in question, or whether some billed services were never actually rendered. Also unclear is how the facility passed routine Medicaid compliance audits in the years after the psychiatrist's death — questions that remain open as the criminal case moves forward.

Steep Penalties on the Table

The charges carry significant statutory exposure. Under Georgia Code § 49-4-146.1, felony Medicaid fraud carries up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000 per count upon conviction, along with mandatory civil restitution equal to three times the excess benefit plus interest. Each of the 32 counts of making false statements and writings, under Georgia Code § 16-10-20, carries a potential sentence of one to five years and a fine of up to $1,000 — meaning a conviction on all 32 counts could theoretically carry a cumulative statutory maximum of 160 years in prison.

Beyond criminal penalties, the state could also pursue civil remedies. Under the Georgia False Medicaid Claims Act, authorities can seek civil penalties ranging from $5,500 to $11,000 per false claim in addition to criminal prosecution, a statute that also grants whistleblower protections to employees who report billing irregularities.

Part of a Broader Crackdown

Maul's case follows other recent Medicaid fraud prosecutions in Georgia. A Warner Robins resident, Elizabeth Sue Ivester, pleaded guilty to health care fraud and aggravated identity theft and was sentenced in January to 10 years in prison and $5.4 million in restitution for a Medicaid identity theft scheme, according to the same announcement from Carr's office. The case also lands amid a wider national push against healthcare billing fraud: in June, federal and state law enforcement agencies executed a nationwide enforcement action that charged more than 450 defendants in connection with over $6.5 billion in fraudulent claims, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

No court date has been announced for Maul, and it remains to be seen how he will respond to the charges.