Vicksburg man pleads guilty to multiple crimes in health-care fraud scheme

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Mississippi announced yesterday that Laron Evans, 34, of Vicksburg, pled guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Henry T. Wingate to conspiring to commit wire fraud, mail fraud and health-care fraud; money laundering; aggravated identity theft; mail fraud; and contempt of court.

The announcement came from U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Michelle A. Sutphin, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Mississippi.

“We in the U.S. Attorney’s Office will remain steadfast in bringing these swindlers to justice, while the public must remain vigilant to such schemes that seek to defraud us of our identities and our money. I commend the FBI agents and our federal prosecutors for doggedly pursuing these fraudsters and putting an end to their criminal enterprise,” said Hurst said in a statement.

“Health-care fraud is a systemic issue nationwide, costing our country tens of billions of dollars each year,” Sutphin added. “The FBI will continue to pursue those that prey on our health-care system and investigate these types of schemes.”

Laron Evans conspired with co-defendant Travious Quinshad Jackson and others to execute a health-care fraud scheme involving health savings accounts, or HSAs, using interstate wire communications and the U.S. postal system. The scheme used interstate wire communication via the internet to send personal identification information of 57 actual people, pretending that they were employees of an imaginary company, to a third-party administrator company located in Maryland.

That company then used the stolen info to create HSA accounts with corresponding debit cards for all 57 names, and sent the cards to Vicksburg addresses. The third party administrator advanced and credited funds to each fraudulent HSA account, and the debit cards could be used to spend that money at designated retail stores. The third party administrator funded approximately $317,000 to these HSA accounts.

Evans, assisted by Jackson and others, spent down the debit cards in various stores throughout April and May 2018, buying gift cards, debit cards and other consumer goods to deplete the HSA accounts. When the administrative company sought reimbursement for the HSA accounts, it learned there was no money in the bank account that Evans had identified for his fake company.

On July 10, 2018, using proceeds gained from the health-care fraud scheme, Evans bought a 2018 Chevrolet Suburban SUV in Forrest County, Miss., for $44,335 in cash plus a trade-in vehicle. The Chevy Suburban was titled in Mississippi in Evans’s name and remained under that title through and beyond February 2019.

On February 13, 2019, Evans appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Linda Anderson for his initial appearance and arraignment in this case. Judge Anderson entered an order permitting Evans’ release on bond pending trial, subject to conditions forbidding travel outside the Southern District of Mississippi without the court’s prior permission.

Between April 16 and April 20, 2019, Evans traveled outside the State of Mississippi without the court’s permission. Also during April and May 2018, while outside Mississippi and on his return to Vicksburg, Evans continued to execute health-care fraud schemes using the internet and the U.S. Mails.

Evans falsely represented himself as leader and manager of an Orlando, Fla., business, seeking to establish health-care benefits including HSA accounts for its purported employees. Via the internet, Evans submitted bank account information for drawing reimbursement, plus employee information for creation of HSA debit cards to another third-party administrator company in Minnesota. The Minnesota company sent some of the debit cards, during the period April 16-25, 2019, to Evans at his Vicksburg home address through the U.S. Mail. Evans had requested that the Minnesota administrator fund those HSA accounts up to $91,000.

Judge Wingate will sentence Evans Jan. 31, 2020. He faces maximum penalties of 20 years in prison as to the conspiracy charge, 10 years in prison as to the money laundering charge, a mandatory consecutive two-year sentence for aggravated identity theft, a possible maximum sentence of 30 years for the mail fraud charge, and up to five years in prison for the contempt of court offense. Evans also faces maximum fines of $250,000.00 on each charge.

Co-defendant Travious Quinshad Jackson has already pled guilty and Wingate will sentence him on Sept. 16, 2019.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation with assistance from the Social Security Office of Investigator General, the Vicksburg Police Department and the Warren County Sheriff’s Office. Assistant U.S. Attorney Theodore M. Cooperstein is prosecuting.