A Charlotte behavioral health services provider was sentenced to 135 months in prison for Medicaid fraud, COVID-19 fraud, and money laundering, the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina announced Friday.
Ashley Nicole Cross, 42, of Charlotte, was found guilty of healthcare fraud, making false statements and writings relating to a healthcare matter, promotional money laundering, wire fraud, and conspiracy.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, trial evidence revealed that Cross owned and operated Odyssey Health Group (OHG), a Charlotte-based company enrolled with South Carolina Medicaid to provide outpatient behavioral health services.
From 2016 to 2021, OHG submitted $1.3 million in phoney claims to South Carolina Medicaid and its managed care organizations for services never provided, the department said.
Cross used personal identifying information (PII) from Medicaid beneficiaries—some of which she purchased—to facilitate the scheme, the department stated.
Cross instructed OHG employees to create fake clinical service notes to legitimize the fraudulent claims, the department said.