Former health care executives plead guilty to conspiracy in Medicaid fraud scheme in Arkansas

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. -- A Missouri couple pleaded guilty Wednesday in the Medicaid fraud scheme that saw five former Arkansas lawmakers convicted on bribery-related charges, federal court records show.

Tommy Ray Goss of Springfield, former chief financial officer of Preferred Family Healthcare, was indicted March 29, 2020, on 24 counts including conspiracy, bribery, theft, honest services fraud, and aiding and assisting the filing of a false tax return.

Bontiea Bernedette Goss, his wife and former chief operating officer for the same company, was indicted the same day on 22 related counts. Both lost their jobs with the company during the investigation but before they were indicted.

A plea agreement filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Springfield, Mo., shows Bontiea Goss pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, punishable by up to five years in federal prison. She and lobbyist Milton "Rusty" Cranford of Little Rock conspired to hire then-state Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, as an attorney for the firm, the plea agreement states.

In return, Hutchinson was to use his official position to benefit Preferred Family. The firm hired Hutchinson in 2013, before Hutchinson's uncle, Asa Hutchinson, was elected governor the following year.

Tommy Goss pleaded guilty to two criminal counts, court documents show. He pleaded to one count of conspiracy and another of assisting in preparation of a false tax return. Tommy Goss admitted to providing cash to then-Sen. Jon Woods of Springdale and to helping get a job for "a person close to Woods." Tommy Goss also admitted to giving $30,000 to the church where then-Sen. Henry "Hank" Wilkins of Pine Bluff was pastor. In return, Woods and Wilkins agreed to help steer state contracts and grants to Preferred Family.

Tommy Goss also under-reported his income in 2014 on a federal tax return, he admitted. That carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. The conspiracy charge, like his wife's, allows a maximum sentence of five years.

The couple agreed to pay up to $4.35 million in restitution. The amount to pay and the distribution of it afterward is to be decided by the court.

No date for a sentencing hearing has been set, according to court records.

An estimated $20 million went to kickbacks, into the pockets of company executives and to bribes, according to court records. Preferred Family and its subsidiaries received $245 million in Medicaid payments for mental health services in Arkansas for fiscal years 2011-18, one-third more than the second-ranking behavioral health care provider in that span, state records show. At its peak, Preferred Family collected $43.9 million in 2016 from the state's Medicaid-funded mental health program -- one in every seven dollars the program spent that year.

According to court records, the Gosses used Preferred Family money to provide interest-free loans to their for-profit businesses and pay marked-up vehicle leasing fees to one of their companies. Over four years, the nonprofit paid $2 million to lease the vehicles from the Gosses' company, which had leased those vehicles from another company for $1.1 million. Preferred Family, according to court records, also paid for charter flights from Springfield to the Gosses' second home in Colorado.

Preferred Family contracts were canceled in 2018 by the state and the company, which has since merged with another health care provider. The company and its board cooperated fully in the federal investigation, Justice Department officials have said. The company later agreed to pay $8 million in settlements with the state and federal governments.

Jeremy Hutchinson pleaded guilty June 24 and 25, 2020, to one count each in three federal judicial districts -- Western and Eastern in Arkansas and Western Missouri -- on charges including accepting bribes and tax fraud. He is expected to be sentenced after the Gosses.

Woods and then-Rep. Micah Neal, also from Springdale, were charged in connection with a $400,000 state grant steered to Cranford and intended to benefit a business venture by Tommy Goss. Tommy Goss paid the state back after investigators began looking into the grant. Woods was convicted at trial on that and other charges stemming from other state grant kickbacks. Neal pleaded guilty and served one year of home detention. Woods is still serving an 18-year prison sentence. Cranford was sentenced to seven years but was released as a nonviolent offender during the covid pandemic.

Former Arkansas Rep. Eddie Wayne Cooper of Melbourne and Wilkins also pleaded guilty in the course of the investigation. Like Jeremy Hutchinson, they are still waiting for sentencing pending resolution of the Gosses' case. They had agreed to testify in the Gosses' trial, according to court records.

Others pleading guilty and awaiting sentencing are: Marilyn Luann Nolan of Springfield, Mo., Preferred Family's former chief executive officer; Robin Raveendran of Little Rock, former director of operations and executive vice president of the company; Keith Fraser Noble of Rogersville, Mo., former director of Preferred Family's clinical operations.

Doug Thompson can be reached by email at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWADoug.


On the web

Read Tom Goss’ plea

nwaonline.com/929tgoss/

Read Bontiea Goss’ plea

nwaonline.com/929bgoss/

 



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