LOUISVILE, Ky. — Six Kentuckians face charges stemming from schemes to defraud health care programs and misuse of controlled substances. The six were charged as part of the Justice Department’s 2024 National Health Care Fraud Enforcement Action.

The two-week nationwide crackdown ended with 193 people being charged for alleged health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes.

The United States District Court for the Western District of Kentucky worked with a host of law enforcement agencies during the two-week period that ended with these six being charged.

Shafi Abbas, 57, of Pendleton, Kentucky, is charged with conspiracy to commit health care fraud and money laundering with an alleged scheme to fraudulently obtain over $2.6 million in Medicare funds. The U.S. Attorney says Abbas through the companies Aidmen Medical Equipment LLC and Justright Medical Equipment LLC, billed Medicare for equipment that wasn’t necessary for patients and wasn’t prescribed to them by doctors. The U.S. Attorney says because of the false claims, Medicare paid approximately $1.3 million. Abbas allegedly more than $10,000 to an offshore account.

Carissa Uptegraff, 44, of Glasgow was indicted for stealing medical products. According to the indictment, Uptegraff worked at a pharmacy and allegedly stole oxycodone, which was worth more than $5,000. The thefts allegedly happened at two different pharmacies before the drugs were ready to be sold to consumers.

Sixty-two year old, Dr. Lawrencee Peters of Louisville is charged with conspiracy to illegally use a Drug Enforcement Administration registration number issued to another person. Peters allegedly conspired with others in his medical practice to issue pre-signed and unsigned prescriptions for drugs and also allegedly asked his staff to get the prescriptions filled at his physician’s owned pharmacy.

Another indictment accused Tammy Daniels, also known as Tammy Richardson, with wire fraud and health care fraud in connection with a scheme to steal over $750,000 from her employer—a medical practice. She’s also accused of trying to fraudulently obtain over $422,000 in Medicare funds. According to the indictment, the 55-year-old from Louisville was the accounts manager for a medical practice. She allegedly used the company’s credit cards to buy personal items, transfer money from the practice’s bank account to pay credit card invoices and also transfer money from the company to pay for her personal credit card expenses. The indictment also accuses of Daniels of using her “access and position to bill for false and fraudulent medical procedures to pay credit card invoices in order to hide the unlawful use of the credit cards, all without her employer’s knowledge and authorization.”

The U.S. Attorney says because of Daniels’ alleged scheme, health care benefit programs, including Medicare, paid over $79,000.

The last two Kentuckians indicted were Michael Boaz and Christopher Augustus of Clinton. The pair were indicted with conspiracy to commit health care fraud, health care fraud and identity theft. The pair allegedly falsely bille several health care benefit programs for medications dispensed from the Clinton and Bardwell Pharmacies using “material misrepresentations, material omissions and deception in order to obtain authorization for the medications from physicians and nurse practitioners.”

According to the indictment, Boaz and Augustus also used the identification of a nurse practitioner and a doctor to commit health care fraud.

“It does not matter if you are a trafficker in a drug cartel or a corporate executive or medical professional employed by a health care company, if you profit from the unlawful distribution of controlled substances, you will be held accountable,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a statement. “The Justice Department will bring to justice criminals who defraud Americans, steal from taxpayer-funded programs, and put people in danger for the sake of profits.”