MISSION – Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit assisted the feds to convict five people in two health care fraud cases.

Five people cheated Medicaid and Medicare out of nearly $4.5 million.

“By billing Medicare and Medicaid for services never provided, these individuals and their companies diverted healthcare dollars from the most vulnerable among us and defrauded taxpayers,” Attorney General Paxton said.

The owner of A&C Medical Supply LLC in Mission pleaded guilty to health care fraud and aggravated identity theft for stealing over $900,000 from Medicaid.

Andres Aly Alvarez was sentenced Thursday to two and a half years in prison.

The unit worked together with the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General on the case, which was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in McAllen.

Four people with Garland-based Elder Care Home Health Services were convicted for defrauding Medicaid and Medicare of more than $3.5 million.

This includes owner Loveth Isidaehomen, the director of nursing Tutu Kudiratu Etti, co-owner Celestine Tony Okwilagwe

All were given a prison sentence of at least five years – Okwilagwe was sentenced to nearly 16 years in prison followed by an immediate deportation to Nigeria.

The four co-conspirators were ordered to pay more than $3.5 million in restitution.  

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Dallas prosecuted the case.