Jackson man sentenced to federal prison for fraud

A Jackson man has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay millions in reimbursement for several felony convictions.

Jamie McCoy, 42, pleaded guilty in November 2020 to health care fraud, making false statements related to health care matters and offering and paying illegal kickbacks for referrals. U.S. District Judge Stephen N. Limbaugh sentenced him to 30 months in prison and ordered him to repay $7.5 million.

A release from Sayler Fleming, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, says McCoy, in pleading guilty to the crimes, admitted owning or operating companies that supplied orthotic braces and other durable medical equipment — AE Wellness LLC, Summit Medical Supply, Patriot Medical Supply and DME Device Co. — that contracted with marketing firms that placed ads on television and online offering orthotic braces at no cost. The companies sent patient information to a telemedicine doctor, who signed an order for medical equipment without evaluating or even communicating with the patient in some cases.

McCoy paid various people for "leads" on patients and then submitted fraudulent claims for millions of dollars to Medicare, Medicaid and Tricare.

"Submitting false claims for medically unnecessary equipment diverts funding from the necessary services required to support beneficiaries of federal health care programs," said Curt L. Muller, special agent in charge with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. "OIG will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to identify and hold accountable individuals who choose to waste vital taxpayer dollars by participating in health care fraud schemes."

Brandy McKay, AE Wellness' office manager, was sentenced Jan. 18 to three years in prison and ordered to repay $7.5 million

Jackson Preston Siples III, who ran day-to-day operations at AE Wellness, pleaded guilty in May to the same charges as McCoy and is awaiting sentencing.

The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General, the FBI, the Defense Criminal Investigation Service and the Missouri Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Dorothy McMurtry and Derek Wiseman are prosecuting the case.