Owner of Lexington sober-living home charged in alleged $20 million testing fraud
People associated with a Lexington sober-living home took part in billing federally funded health programs more than $20 million for tests that were not medically necessary, a federal grand jury has charged.
Those named in the indictment are Delores Jordan, 56, of Charlotte, N.C.; her son Deshawn Dawkins, 33, of Lexington; Jordan’s boyfriend Jerome Davis, 51, of Indianapolis; and 51-year-old Ernest Williams of Lexington, according to the indictment and a release from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Jordan owned a sober home, also called a sober-living home, called Serenity Keepers LLC in Lexington. The facility is also referred to as Serenity Keeper’s in the court record.
Sober-living homes are places where people in recovery from substance-use disorder can stay and receive services such as counseling.
They often employ what are called peer support specialists to help residents. Dawkins and Williams held that job with the facility.
The facilities also often require residents to be drug tested to ensure they are complying with the rules.
The indictment charges that in August 2019, Jordan started soliciting kickbacks to refer urine samples to drug testing laboratories that could be billed to Medicaid and Medicare.
Jordan solicited payments from a person in Boyle County who had a consulting company that had connections with drug-testing labs, the indictment said.
The indictment referred to the person as a co-conspirator but did not name him or the labs.
Jordan initially received kickbacks paid to her son of about $1,300 every two weeks in return for sending urine samples from Serenity Keepers, but upped that demand to $5,000 every two weeks beginning around October 2021 based on the volume of samples her sober-living home was sending, the indictment charges.
Jordan also demanded $5,000 payments every two weeks to her boyfriend, Davis, through his company, X-Tremly for Christ LLC, according to the indictment.
At one point, Jordan allegedly recruited a doctor, who was not identified by name in the indictment, to sign order forms for urine drug testing.
The billing for the tests was allegedly fraudulent because the tests were not used for medical diagnosis or treatment, and Jordan knew that, the indictment alleges.
Medicaid and Medicare reimburse providers for tests that are used in medical treatment, but not for tests that are used for non-medical purposes, such as checking to make sure a resident in a sober-loving house is not abusing drugs.
Serenity Keepers caused about $20 million in unnecessary drug testing to be billed to Medicaid between August 2019 and March 2022, and another $670,000 to Medicare, according to the indictment.
The indictment also accuses Jordan, Dawkins and Williams of fraudulently billing for peer support services.
Jordan, Dawkins and Williams are charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, and Jordan is charged with health care fraud.
Jordan, Dawkins and Davis are charged with a kickback conspiracy.
The indictment was returned Nov. 7 but initially sealed.
Jordan, Dawkins and Williams face up to 10 years in prison if convicted and Davis could get up to five years, according to a news release.
This story was originally published November 22, 2024 at 2:53 PM.
