Health Care Fraud Scheme Nets Prison SentencesHealth Care Fraud Scheme Nets Prison Sentences In a recent sentencing, three individuals were convicted of a health care fraud scheme that resulted in over $500,000 in fraudulently obtained benefits. The primary defendant, Jeremias Otoniel Herrera Rosales, an illegal alien from Guatemala, assumed the identity of a US citizen to obtain government-funded health care, including a kidney transplant. Jennifer Guadalupe Herrera and Jaklyn Guerra conspired with Herrera Rosales to facilitate his fraud. They provided him with false identification documents and assisted in obtaining medical benefits. Sentencing and Restitution Herrera Rosales was sentenced to 16 months in prison for conspiracy to commit health care fraud. Herrera and Guerra each received one-month prison sentences for the same charge. All three defendants were ordered to pay a joint and separate restitution of $510,949.61. They will also serve terms of supervised release following their prison terms. Consequences of the Scheme Prosecutors emphasized that Herrera Rosales’s fraudulent kidney transplant deprived another person who genuinely needed the organ of receiving it. Investigation and Prosecution The scheme was investigated by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General. Assistant US Attorneys Timothy L. Vavricek and Ronald Timmons prosecuted the case.
FINANCIAL – An illegal alien and two other individuals who conspired to obtain more than $500,000 in government-funded health care benefits, including a kidney transplant, were sentenced to prison terms on June 24, 2024, and July 2, 2024.
Jeremias Otoniel Herrera Rosales (“Herrera Rosales”), age 37, of Worthington, Minnesota, originally from Guatemala, was sentenced to 16 months in prison after pleading guilty on February 7, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Jennifer Guadalupe Herrera (“Herrera”), age 43, of Worthington, Minnesota, was sentenced to one month in prison after pleading guilty on February 9, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Jaklyn Guerra (“Guerra”), age 52, of Wells, Minnesota, was sentenced to one month in prison after pleading guilty on February 6, 2024, to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.
Evidence in the defendants’ criminal case established that Herrera Rosales was a citizen of Guatemala without legal status in the United States. As of 2012, Guerra and Herrera gave Herrera Rosales the name, date of birth, and Social Security number of DG Herrera, and Herrera Rosales was married, and Guerra is Herrera’s sister.
Beginning no later than 2015, Herrera Rosales assumed the identity of DG and used DG’s identification documents to apply for Medicare and Minnesota Medicaid benefits. The United States funds Medicare and, through a cost-sharing arrangement, also partially funds Minnesota Medicaid benefits. Between 2015 and 2020, Herrera Rosales obtained more than $500,000 in Medicare, Minnesota Medicaid, and Social Security Administration benefits using DG’s identity without DG’s knowledge or consent.
As part of the scheme, Herrera Rosales obtained placement on the organ donor registry under the false and fraudulent pretense that he was a DG and eligible for a kidney transplant. In 2019, Herrera Rosales received a federally funded kidney transplant in Minnesota. Herrera Rosales admitted in his plea agreement that because he fraudulently obtained the kidney transplant, another person who needed the kidney did not receive it.
The defendants were sentenced in Sioux City by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard T. Strand. Herrera Rosales was sentenced to 16 months in prison, Herrera was sentenced to one month in prison, and Guerra was sentenced to one month in prison. All three defendants were ordered to pay $510,949.61 in restitution as a joint and separate obligation. Each defendant must also serve a term of three years of supervised release following their respective prison sentences. There is no parole in the federal system.
Herrera Rosales is being held in the custody of the United States Marshal until he can be transferred to a federal prison. Herrera and Guerra were released on previously set bail and must surrender to the United States Marshal at future dates.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy L. Vavricek and Ronald Timmons and investigated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, and the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General.
