Deandre Horne, a 32-year-old University City man, admitted to one count of healthcare fraud and one count of wire fraud in a federal court in St. Louis on Tuesday. The fraud included stealing more than $100,000 from a PPP loan meant to help small businesses facing hardship during the pandemic, and scamming the Missouri Medicaid system.
Horne, who claimed to own Serenity Home Health Care CDS from 2017-2021, said he had deceitfully billed Missouri Medicaid for services that were not backed-up by real timesheets or electronic visit verification (EVV) documents, and had created fake EVV forms to support bills. He also lied about being a personal care attendant for several Medicaid beneficiaries and billed for times he was out of the country.
Additionally, Horne applied for and received more than $100,000 from a PPP loan in the summer of 2020, and lied about being the sole owner of Budget Towing & Recovery LLC, the number of employees he had, and his business’ monthly payroll total. He said the money would be used to keep workers or pay business expenses, when in reality he only used it for himself.
Horne faces up to 10 years in prison for health care fraud and up to 20 years for wire fraud, as well as up to $250,000 or more in fines for each charge. He will also have to pay back the money he stole. Horne will be sentenced on May 22. Prosecutors will argue that the Medicaid program lost between $550,000 and $1.5 million due to Horne's fraud.
Go back