Mo. Woman Sentenced in Medicaid Billing Scheme

A Kansas City, Missouri, woman has been sentenced in Johnson County District Court for her part in a scheme to defraud the Medicaid program, Attorney General Phill Kline announced.

Rameshia Spears was sentenced to 12 months in prison on one felony count of making a false claim to the Medicaid program and six months in prison on each of two felony counts of conspiring to make a false claim to the Medicaid program. The prison terms were suspended and she was placed on 24 months probation and ordered to pay $166,072 in restitution and interest to the Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services.

Spears and her sister Benita Givhan of Leawood reportedly made the claims between July 1, 1999 and December 31, 2003 while Givhan was an approved Medicaid patient and had hired her sister as her “personal care attendant.” Spears reportedly submitted false time sheets claiming to have cared for her sister on the same days she was working at her full-time job which caused the Kansas Medicaid Program to pay for services that were never provided.

Givhan entered guilty pleas to the same felony charges and was sentenced last month.