A Magnolia, Texas woman pleaded guilty Friday to federal health care fraud and aggravated identity theft after admitting she billed Medicaid more than $477,872 for mental health therapy sessions that were never actually provided — including sessions she claimed to give herself. Tekiyah McLeod, 34, successfully collected $453,323 of that fraudulent billing before investigators caught up with the scheme, according to federal records.
McLeod operated nLove Community Services LLC, which FBI Houston
says billed Medicaid for therapy services that were never rendered. According to the
U.S. Department of Justice
, among the fraudulent claims McLeod submitted were billings for therapy sessions purportedly provided to herself — a detail prosecutors say underscores the directness of the deceit baked into the scheme.
A Downtown Houston Provider With a Stolen Identity
Federal healthcare provider registry records show nLove Community Services LLC was enumerated in June 2021 with a primary office address at 1201 Fannin Street in downtown Houston, registered under classifications for case management and behavioral health, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services records. FBI Houston says McLeod used a nurse practitioner's name and National Provider Identifier to submit the fraudulent claims, doing so without that nurse practitioner's knowledge or consent.
U.S. District Judge Keith Ellison accepted McLeod's guilty plea Friday and allowed her to remain released on bond, the Justice Department's account states. Federal law requires a mandatory consecutive two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A.
Why the Identity Theft Charge Guarantees Extra Prison Time
Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A requires that any prison term imposed for aggravated identity theft run consecutively to, rather than concurrently with, the underlying fraud sentence, according to analysis published by The Federal Criminal Attorneys. In practice, that means whatever term Judge Ellison imposes for the health care fraud count in December will be stacked on top of the two-year identity theft sentence, not folded into it.
The Latham Regulatory describes the Justice Department's National Fraud Enforcement Division as an effort to clamp down on federal benefits fraud nationwide.
Investigators in Texas and Virginia Assisted
The FBI Houston investigation was assisted by state Medicaid Fraud Control Units in both Texas and Virginia.
