October 18th, 2018 by WCBC Radio
The Cumberland Times News reports a Frostburg woman who owned wellness centers in Cumberland and Westernport was ordered to serve one year in prison Thursday for masterminding a series of long-running fraud schemes that took in $825,000 from the state Medicaid program. The Maryland Attorney General's Office said Thursday Rebecca D. Norris, 43, pleaded guilty to one count of Medicaid fraud in July. Judge Charles J. Peters of the Circuit Court for Baltimore City actually sentenced Norris to five years in prison, but suspended all but one year. Following her release, she will be placed on probation for five years, pay $825,000 in restitution and is banned for five years from working for any health care provider receiving federal funding. Last month, Peters sentenced Norris' sister and co-conspirator, Heidi Wiley, 32, to six months' incarceration, with the entire sentence suspended. Wiley will serve five years of probation, pay $123,438 restitution and also cannot work for any providers in federally-funded health care programs for five years. Norris owned the Appalachian Wellness Centers, which provided mental health and primary care services. According to the Attorney General's Office, for a seven-year period starting in 2010, Norris ran an array of schemes.
October 19, 2018 at 11:33 am, kevin said:
In an unrelated story today, a woman who drove a getaway car in a C store robbery was sentenced to 10 years in prison. I have no problem with that, but I’ll bet the C store robbery did not net over 850,000 stolen from tax payers. She should be in jail for at least as long as her many documented schemes lasted.