Criminal Investigative Updates

Former VA employee Jesus Abreu of Brockton, Massachusetts, was charged with wire fraud for allegedly submitting fraudulent applications for Economic Injury Disaster Loans and Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans. These loans totaled more than $70,000. Abreu also allegedly submitted loan forgiveness applications that falsely claimed the PPP loans were spent on payroll. As a result of the misrepresentation, the loans were forgiven. The VA OIG and the US Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration, investigated this case with assistance from the Norwood, Massachusetts, Police Department.

Denise Baez, of Brockton, Massachusetts, was charged with wire fraud. According to the charging documents, she allegedly made false claims on two applications for Paycheck Protection Program loans. To support these claims, she submitted fraudulent tax documents. Baez, who the VA has employed since August 2021, was approved for the loans and received $41,666, which she used on personal expenses. She submitted loan-forgiveness applications and falsely claimed she’d spent the funds on payroll, and the loan forgiveness was granted. The VA OIG and the Department of Labor, Employee Benefits Security Administration investigated this case.

Natavia Boyd-Wells, the owner of Touch of the Heart Home Health Care LLC, was indicted by a federal grand jury and accused of defrauding the Missouri Medicaid Program and VA out of more than $800,000. According to the indictment, Boyd-Wells submitted hundreds of fraudulent claims for services that she knew were never provided, in some cases because the veteran patients were actually in the hospital and could not possibly have received home healthcare services. Missouri Medicaid paid at least $197,022 to a bank account controlled by Boyd-Wells, and VA funded reimbursement payments of more than $600,000. The VA OIG and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case.

Natavia Boyd-Wells, of St. Louis, Missouri, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud. She admitted that while owner of Touch of the Heart Home Health Care LLC, she submitted hundreds of fraudulent reimbursements claims to the Missouri Medicaid Program and the VA Community Care Network. Boyd-Wells admitted submitting claims for services on dates when the veteran patients were in the hospital and could not possibly have received home healthcare services. She also submitted claims knowing both that the services were not provided and that she did not have any necessary documentation of the services. The fraud cost the VA at least $100,000. The VA OIG and the Missouri Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated the case.