Federal officials have arrested Rockwall Doctor Jacques Roy and his office manager in what authorities say is the largest alleged home health fraud in U.S. history.
Deputy Attorney General James Cole says Roy and the health businesses he ran fraudulently billed Medicare and Medicaid out of nearly $375 million.
Cole: We are demonstrating to those who would commit health care fraud that it won’t be worth it. If you do this, we will track you down and we will prosecute you.
Cole said the indictment alleges Roy and six others were involved in the five year scam that recruited patients to file for Medicare services when they were not eligible. In addition, 78 home health agencies tied to the alleged scam have been suspended. Officials credit sophisticated data analysis for identifying suspicious billing by Roy. They say his business, Medistat, based in Desoto, had more Medicare beneficiaries under its care than any other practice in the country.
Bill Zeeble, KERA
Federal Court Issues New Voting Map
A federal court in San Antonio has issued new congressional and state House maps in time for Texas to hold a May 29 primary.
The ruling by a three-judge panel Tuesday could clear the way for elections, if none of the nine groups contesting the state's political districts files an appeal.
Time is running out for Texas to hold primaries, and the maps are intended to get Texas through the 2012 election cycle. Minority groups have accused the Republican-controlled Legislature of drawing maps that discriminated against them. The state's leaders say the maps merely give Republicans an advantage in the next election.
The latest maps folo months or legal wrangling, including the U.S. Supreme Court throwing out the last set of maps drawn by the San Antonio judges.
AP
Royal Family Helps Create Texas Alzheimers Fund
The wife of legendary University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal has told a joint legislative committee that her family foundation will create a fund to support Alzheimer's disease research in Texas in her husband's name.
Royal suffers from the disease and also appeared at the hearing along with seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and actor Matthew McConaughey.
Edith Royal told the committee how hard it is to care for someone in the advanced stages of the disease, which results in dementia and sometimes violent behavior. Edith Royal said that while Texas ranks third in the nation for the disease, most of the research takes place on the east and west coasts.
The DKR Fund for Alzheimer's Research will fund collaborative research in Texas.
AP
AG Holder Defends Opposing Some State Voter ID Laws
Attorney General Eric Hlder is defending the Justice Department's opposition to some state laws requiring voters to present photo IDs when go to the polls
At a House appropriations subcommittee hearing, Holder says the federal government must think long and hard about the negative impact that photo identification requirements have on the ability of minorities, the elderly and young people to vote.
The department's civil rights division blocked South Carolina from requiring voters to show government-issued photo identification to vote. The state has sued, seeking enforcement of the new law. Separately, Texas officials have gone to court following Justice Department questions about the Texas voter ID law. The Justice Department is asking the state for a racial breakdown on voters who do not have a state-issued license or ID.
AP
Leader of Notorious Texas 7 Gang To Die Wednesday
George Rivas already was saddled with 17 life prison terms when he told a Dallas County jury he deserved death for organizing the largest-ever jailbreak from a Texas prison and then killing a suburban Dallas police officer.
Prosecutors urged jurors to not be manipulated by the leader of the notorious "Texas 7" gang of fugitives, insisting Rivas was trying to trick them into avoiding the death chamber.
Jurors decided he should die. And now the 41-year-old Rivas is set for lethal injection Wednesday evening in Huntsville.
Attorneys say his appeals are exhausted. The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles has rejected a clemency request. And Rivas acknowledges he's ready to die for fatally shooting Irving police officer Aubrey Hawkins 11 years ago.
AP
Sixth Suspect Sentenced In Minnesota-North Dakota Drug Conspiracy
A Minnesota man has been sentenced in federal court in North Dakota for his role in what authorities say was a large-scale cocaine trafficking conspiracy in the two states in 2010.
Fraenchot (fran-SHOH') Banks of Brooklyn Park, Minn., was convicted by a jury last November and sentenced this week to 20 years in prison.
U.S. Attorney Timothy Purdon says six people from Texas, Minnesota, North Dakota and Mexico have now been sentenced in the case on drug conspiracy, firearm and witness retaliation charges.
AP
Services Set In Yuma for Marine Texan Killed In Crash
A private memorial service is set for Wednesday afternoon for one of the seven Marines killed when two military helicopters collided nearly a week ago near western Arizona.
Capt. Nathan Anderson of Amarillo, Texas, will be honored at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma, where he was based, along his wife and two children.
Anderson and six Marines were killed when two military helicopters collided during a nighttime training exercise at the Yuma Training Range Complex near the Arizona-California border. It was one of the Corps' deadliest aviation training accidents in years.
AP
