Louisiana Nurse Practitioner Sentenced to 87 Months for $12 Million Medicare Fraud Scheme

NEW ORLEANS – June 17, 2026 – A Louisiana nurse practitioner was sentenced to 87 months in prison and three years of supervised release for causing over $12 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare for medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Scharmaine Lawson Baker, 59, of Fulshear, Texas, a licensed nurse practitioner and Medicare provider, was also ordered to pay $1,508,868.25 in restitution. She was found guilty by a federal jury in July 2025 of six counts of health care fraud following a three-day trial.

According to court documents and evidence presented at trial, Lawson Baker received tens of thousands of dollars in illegal kickbacks in exchange for ordering expensive cancer genetic tests. Lawson Baker held herself out as an expert in Medicare regulations—authoring books on medical necessity and patient-provider relationships—while actively violating those very standards.

A Rubber Stamp for Medicare Fraud

From October 2018 to October 2019, Lawson Baker worked as an independent contractor for a company that claimed to provide telehealth services. In her role, she signed hundreds of orders for medically unnecessary cancer genetic tests after brief phone calls with patients, typically lasting less than 30 seconds, and without examining the patients.

In a recorded call admitted at trial, a telehealth company’s phone operator told Lawson Baker that she would be “rolling in money” by signing the orders. Lawson Baker responded, “Honey, I am not complaining.” The evidence at trial also showed that Lawson Baker ordered ovarian and cervical cancer tests for male patients, demonstrating that she was acting as a rubber stamp to get paid instead of providing real medical care. She never reviewed the results of any of the tests she ordered, including when the results showed that patients actually had variants predisposing them to certain cancers.

In total, Lawson Baker caused over $12.1 million in false and fraudulent claims to Medicare. The laboratories involved in the scheme received over $1.5 million in reimbursements from Medicare for the unnecessary testing she ordered. In exchange for signing these orders, Lawson Baker accepted kickbacks and bribes from the telehealth company—payments she later failed to disclose in her bankruptcy petition.

A Broader Anti-Fraud Effort

On April 7, the Department of Justice announced the creation of the National Fraud Enforcement Division, which is focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people. The Department’s work to combat fraud supports President Trump’s Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, a whole-of-government effort chaired by Vice President J.D. Vance to eliminate fraud, waste, and abuse within federal benefit programs.

The Department of Justice’s Health Care Fraud Strike Force Program, currently comprised of nine strike forces operating in federal districts across the country, has charged more than 6,200 defendants who collectively billed federal health care programs and private insurers more than $45 billion since 2007.

Opioid Treatment Provider and Former CEO to Pay $10.2 Million Over False Claims Allegations

PROVIDENCE – June 17, 2026 – Journey to Hope, Health and Healing and its former CEO, Kenneth L. Richardson, Jr., have agreed to pay $10.2 million to resolve allegations that the opioid treatment provider submitted false claims to the Rhode Island Medicaid program and Medicare for substance use disorder treatment services that were not provided, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Journey, when owned and led by Richardson, operated outpatient treatment facilities in Rhode Island that provided substance use disorder treatment services, including methadone-assisted treatment and mental health care services.

The settlement resolves allegations made by the State of Rhode Island and the United States in a complaint in intervention filed in April 2023. The complaint alleged that between January 2015 and July 2021, Journey and its management knowingly submitted false claims to the Rhode Island Medicaid program for millions of dollars.

Allegations of Inadequate Care and Falsified Records

According to the complaint, Journey failed to provide required treatment plans and adequate counseling services to certain patients receiving methadone treatment. The complaint also alleged that Journey maintained patient caseloads at a volume so high that it was physically impossible for counselors to provide required counseling services.

The complaint further alleged that Journey and its management knowingly falsified documents by altering and backdating records to make it appear to accreditation officials and Rhode Island Medicaid auditors that they were complying with the accreditation requirements necessary to bill Rhode Island Medicaid.

Settlement and Whistleblower Awards

Under the settlement agreement, Journey and its CEO will pay $10.2 million to the United States and the State of Rhode Island to resolve their alleged liability under the federal and state False Claims Acts.

The settlement includes the resolution of claims brought under the qui tam, or whistleblower, provisions of the False Claims Acts by former Journey employees Sara Quaresma and Michael Delmonico. Under those provisions, private parties may file civil actions on behalf of the government and receive a portion of any recovery. Under the settlement agreement, the whistleblowers will receive approximately $2.04 million of the settlement proceeds.