Owner of GA Medical Equipment Company Sentenced for Medicare Fraud

Medical business owner sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison for medicare fraud

Pate was convicted in December 2018 of 33 counts of fraud, identity theft

The owner of a Thomson, Ga., medical equipment company was sentenced to more than 10 years in federal prison Tuesday, July 30, for a wide-ranging Medicare fraud scheme.

Detra Wiley Pate, owner and CEO of Southern Respiratory LLC, of Thomson, Ga., was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge J. Randall Hall to 121 months in federal prison for multiple counts of health care fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and aggravated identity theft, said Bobby L. Christine, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia. She also was ordered to pay $950,000 in restitution, and must serve three years of supervised release after completion of her sentence. There is no parole in the federal system.

“Detra Wiley Pate had every opportunity to operate a successful, legitimate business serving the needs of the elderly and vulnerable in her community,” said U.S. Attorney Christine. “Instead, she got greedy and charged Medicare for expensive equipment patients neither needed nor received, using prescriptions doctors had not written. As an ironic result, she’ll grow old in prison while reflecting on her fraud.”

According to the information presented in court documents and testimony, from 2014-2016 Pate submitted thousands of false claims, fabricated patient files, and falsified prescriptions from doctors for items such as heavy-duty wheelchairs while providing much cheaper standard wheelchairs to patients – and pocketing the substantial difference in cost. Pate used the money she stole from Medicare through this fraud to pay for such things as jewelry, including a 1.5 carat diamond and a Rolex watch.

“Fraud schemes such as these divert taxpayer funds from vital federal healthcare programs to fraudsters – such as Detra Wiley Pate – who seek personal gain,” said Special Agent in Charge Derrick L. Jackson of the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Our agents, working closely with our law enforcement partners, will continue to clamp down on such scams.”

The case was investigated by the FBI and by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Patricia Rhodes and Thomas Clarkson led the prosecution for the United States with assistance from Litigation Technologist Dean Athanasopoulos.