Owner of Quality Therapy Service Convicted of Scheming to Defraud Medicare

U. S. Department of Justice
U. S. Attorney's Office
Southern District of Texas

Michael  Shelby   
United States Attorney

Nancy G. Herrera
Executive Assistant United States Attorney
Phone: 713/567-9301
Fax: 713/718-3415

or        

John Yembrick
Public Affairs Specialist
Phone: 713/567-9388
Fax: 713/718-3389
E-Mail: usatty.txs@usdoj.gov

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Date: May 7, 2004

CONTACT AUSAs: Andrew A. Bobb / Anibal Alaniz 

Phone:   (713) 567-9000   / (956) 618-8010

(McALLEN, TX.)  United States Attorney Michael Shelby announced today that  Monroe Saulter, 45, the owner and president of Quality Therapy Services (QTS), was convicted of engaging in a scheme to defraud Medicare of $500,000.  Saulter and  Cornelius Hernandez, the owner and operator of C.H. Financial Management & Consulting, were indicted in December 2003 for conspiring to and engaging in a scheme to defraud Medicare.  Before trial was scheduled to commence on Monday, May 4, 2004, Saulter plead guilty to the defrauding Medicare.   Hernandez, was found not guilty of the charges by a jury's verdict returned on Friday, May 7, 2004, following a four day trial.     

Monroe Saulter is the owner and president of Quality Therapy Services (QTS), a corporation providing outpatient rehabilitation services, speech therapy, and physical therapy services to the residents of McAllen, Texas, and the surrounding area. 

Under the Medicare program, a service provider is reimbursed for reasonable and necessary expenses, which include employee bonuses.  In 1998, Saulter, as president of QTS, sought and received from Medicare $500,000 for such bonuses.  Saulter admitted he did not use the funds to pay bonuses, rather he used the money for other purposes not related to QTS' business.   Additionally, Saulter admitted that for auditing purposes he had   # more # devised a scheme whereby he directed that biweekly payroll checks be submitted to Medicare, with the false representation that such checks were in fact bonus checks.   

Having been convicted of health care fraud, Saulter faces a maximum punishment of ten years in federal prison, without parole, and a $250,000 fine.  Sentencing is set for August 30, 2004. 

The investigation was conducted by the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services.   The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Andrew A. Bobb and Anibal Alaniz.