LEXINGTON, Ky. — Four people, including two Kentuckians, are facing federal charges of conspiracy to commit health care fraud and receiving kickbacks at sober homes.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Dashawn Dawkins and Ernest Williams of Lexington, along with Delores Jordan of Charlotte, North Carolina and Jerome Davis of Indianapolis, were all indicted on the charges.
The indictment said Serenity Keepers was a sober home in Lexington which claimed to provide mental health, substance abuse treatment and housing for individuals enrolled in the program.
It is alleged the company used urine drug tests for their clients for “non-medical reasons, such as ensuring sobriety.”
According to the indictment, beginning in Aug. 2019, Delores Jordan, the owner of Serenity Keepers, requested kickbacks from a co-conspirator in exchange for referring Serenity Keepers’ urine drug test to various laboratories.
The kickbacks were allegedly paid using checks, cash and wire transfers. The indictment said every two weeks, approximately $1,300 would go to Jordan’s son, Dashawn Dawkins. Starting in Oct. 2021, Jordan allegedly demanded a higher kickback of $5,000 due to increased drug test referrals from Serenity Keepers. She allegedly received the higher amount every two weeks through payments sent to her boyfriend, Jerome Davis, paid through his company, X-Tremly for Christ LLC.
The urine drug tests performed for Serenity Keepers’ clients were not used for medical treatment or diagnosis and weren’t ordered by a medical provider, according to the indictment. Those are requirements for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement.
The indictment alleges Jordan, Dawkins and Williams conspired to defraud Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid by “causing approximately $26.7 million in medically unnecessary urine drug tests” to be billed to Medicare and Kentucky Medicaid from Aug. 2019 to March 2022.
Jordan, Dawkins and Williams also allegedly defrauded Kentucky Medicaid more by having Serenity Keepers fraudulently bill for peer support services. The indictment said between Aug. 2019 and Feb. 2022, Serenity Keepers allegedly billed Medicaid for six hours of peer support services per day, for every client enrolled in their program who had Medicaid coverage. The indictment claims that many billed services were not provided by qualified staff, properly supervised, or delivered according to state regulations.
Dawkins, Davis and Williams have already had initial appearances in court. Jordan’s first court appearance will be Dec. 4. Jordan, Dawkins and Williams each face a maximum of 10 years in prison. Davis faces a maximum of five years in prison. All four face a $250,000 fine, plus any restitution determined by the Court.