SAN DIEGO (CNS) - A Chula Vista mother and daughter are facing federal charges for allegedly claiming to provide medical services -- despite the mother serving a federal prison sentence at the time -- and then allegedly submitting $9.5 million in false Medicare claims.
Blanca Estela Cardenas, 55, and Raquel Pasillas, 33, allegedly received around $5.5 million in reimbursements, then used the alleged fraud proceeds for personal uses such as more than $4.7 million in cash withdrawals and rent payments for Cardenas' home while she was in prison.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office, Cardenas was a nurse practitioner and owner of Mobile Care Medical Providers, LLC and B&R Wound Care, Inc.
Prosecutors say the companies submitted claims to Medicare which represented that Cardenas was providing services while she was actually incarcerated for an unrelated bulk cash smuggling conviction.
Pasillas was providing medical services to patients such as wound care and applying "costly skin substitute allografts" despite not having a medical license or certification, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The charges against Cardenas and Pasillas were announced as part of a larger Department of Justice operation that resulted in health care fraud and opioid-related charges against 455 defendants nationwide, including 90 doctors and licensed medical professionals.
The U.S. Attorney's Office said the collective cases involved more than $6.5 billion in false claims and "significant patient harm, including death."
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