March 17, 2017
Posted March 20, 2017
Houston-Area nurse Charles Esechie pleaded guilty today for his role in a Medicare fraud scheme that resulted in losses to Medicare of more than $5 million. According to the plea, Esechie worked as a nurse for both Harris County, Texas Hospital District and Baptist Home Care Providers Inc., one of five Houston-area home healthcare agencies owned by Godwin Oriakhi. Esechie admitted that while he worked at Baptist, he knew that Oriakhi obtained Medicare patients by paying illegal kickback payments to patient recruiters for referring patients to Baptist for home healthcare services that Esechie knew were medically unnecessary and often not provided. DOJ