LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A federal judge sentenced a pastor, who stole more than a million dollars from taxpayers, to probation.
U.S. District Judge Richard Boulware sentenced Regina Brice to four years of probation for her role in a healthcare fraud scheme with at least three other pastors in the Las Vegas area. Only one pastor, Regina Brice’s husband Joe Brice, out of three who were originally charged, will serve prison time. Regina Brice’s April 17 sentencing appeared to be the final sentencing in the multi-million-dollar healthcare fraud case. Boulware also ordered Regina Brice to pay more than $1.1 million in restitution to Nevada Medicaid. “Ms. Brice’s crime is especially egregious because the program she defrauded, Nevada Medicaid, is designed to provide health care for low-income Nevadans,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin Washburne wrote in court documents. “Instead of allowing this program to provide healthcare for the indigent as intended, Ms. Brice targeted it for her own personal gain.” Washburne argued for a 15-month prison sentence. Regina Brice previously pleaded guilty to health care fraud and aiding and abetting, resulting in the dismissal of additional charges she faced. Regina Brice admitted to executing a scheme and plan to defraud Nevada Medicaid between October 2016 and February 2018, according to court documents obtained by the 8 News Now Investigators. Brice, according to a plea agreement, omitted her five prior misdemeanor convictions, including possession of drug paraphernalia in 1996 and 1997, theft in 1999, and battery and charge for “non-sufficient funds check” in 2009. That enabled her to enroll in Above and Beyond Behavioral Services as a medical provider with Nevada Medicaid and then submit bills for Nevada Medicaid for services not rendered, according to the plea agreement. Brice used $248,000 in illegal proceeds she received from Medicaid to purchase a property in Las Vegas in 2017.
The maximum sentence Brice could have received was 10 years in prison, plus three years of supervised release along with a fine…