Woman facing prison for health care fraud faked disappearance, West Virginia cops say
A 43-year-old woman facing up to a decade behind bars for an alleged $300,000 healthcare fraud scheme was found Tuesday after her husband reported her missing from a cliff in West Virginia, according to federal officials and media reports.
After two days, investigators say they discovered her “alive and well” in a nearby town. Now both are facing criminal charges.
Julie Wheeler and her husband, 47-year-old Rodney Wheeler, were arrested Tuesday on charges of fraudulent schemes, conspiracy, felony conspiracy, willful disturbance of governmental process, contributing to the delinquency of minor and obstructing an officer, among others, West Virginia State Police Sgt. B.A. Wood told The Register-Herald.
At the time of her “disappearance,” federal court documents show Julie Wheeler was due to be sentenced June 17 on felony health care fraud charges relating to the care of a person with spina bifida.
She and her husband were given a $100,000 bond each on Wednesday with the condition of home confinement, according to WVNS.
Rodney Wheeler reported his wife missing just after 8 p.m. Sunday from Grandview State Park, leading investigators to believe she’d fallen from the overlook, WOAY reported.
Rangers with the National Park Service were told Julie Wheeler was searching for an earring when she fell, according to The Register-Herald.
Rescue crews searched for her on and off over the next two days using a helicopter and infrared gun while also rappelling down the cliff side, WVNS reported. The terrain — home to “a lot of underbrush, a lot of Rhododendron, steep cliff lines, sharp drops” — was difficult to navigate, according to The Register-Herald.
In a Facebook post Monday night, Rodney Wheeler said “they haven’t found her yet but I am holding out hope that she will be found and she is ok.”
“I am heartbroken and lost right now but I have to have faith... please give us time to work through this and please keep us in your thoughts and prayers,” the post states.
But less than 24 hours later, state police troopers say they found Julie Wheeler “alive and well” in nearby Beaver — a town 10 miles away, according to WVNS. Troopers were searching her home at the time “on the suspicion of foul play,” the TV station reported.
At least 50 men and women had been searching for her at the Grandview overlook, WVNS reported in a Facebook Live video after she was found.
Julie Wheeler later admitted to investigators she was never at Grandview, according to the TV station, and police determined she and her husband had “orchestrated and fabricated the missing person complaint,” WOAY reported.
Julie Wheeler was indicted in September for allegedly taking more than $300,000 from the federal government’s Spina Bifida Health Care Benefits Program while overstating the level of home care she provided to a relative with the condition, according to federal prosecutors.
She pleaded guilty to the charges in February and was facing up to 10 years in prison and close to half a million dollars in restitution, prosecutors said in a news release at the time.
According to the release, Julie Wheeler was receiving $736 a day from October 2016 to April 2018 to provide eight hours of services to a relative with spina bifida — “a birth defect that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don’t form properly,” according to the Mayo Clinic.
The relative, identified only as K.L., needed bathing and grooming, her clothes changed and help with hygiene and eating, prosecutors said.
But Julie Wheeler told the FBI she had “greatly inflated the rate and quality of the care that she provided to K.L.,” the release states. K.L. has since passed away.
This story was originally published June 3, 2020 at 2:04 PM.
