HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) – A federal judge sentenced Maurice Moody, 41, to four years and three months in jail after he had pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud and aggravated identity theft.
The fraud scheme involved posing as his severely disabled son’s caregiver, and also using another son in the fraud when investigators came to the home.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Kosky described how Moody claimed to be the caregiver for his severely disabled biological son, identified only as “LM.” That alone is against the law, because biological parents can not be a child’s caregiver under Medicaid rules. Court documents show that LM needs assistance with all activities of daily living.
But Moody also submitted times and dates for his bogus caregiving when he was out of town or even in jail. The claims bilked Medicaid out of nearly $109,000.
Chief Judge Mark Davis called the scheme was a blatant and amazing case of fraud.
Moody previously pleaded guilty to Medicaid fraud and aggravated identity theft. When local authorities removed his disabled son from his home, Moody kept billing Medicaid. When investigators came to his home to verify the child, he pretended his other son was LM.
Moody told the court he was “truly and sincerely apologetic” for what happened, and gained a “greater understanding of what it means to be a father.”
Moody has a previous conviction in Hampton Circuit Court for felony child abuse and neglect involving LM. Davis read from a report on that case from April 2014, when the boy attended New Horizons Academy. It described LM as frail with many marks on his body, which were later determined to have come from some sort of tool. It summarized what had happened to LM as “torture.”
In the Hampton case, Moody was sentenced to five years with three years suspended.
In the current case, the defense wanted 30 months for Moody’s guilty plea on the fraud and identity theft charges and the prosecution wanted 51, which was the judge’s sentence.
“This case is shocking, extremely serious and really troubling,” Davis, the judge, said.
Moody was granted delayed reporting to prison until March 10, so that he could complete a course to obtain his commercial driver’s license. Moody’s co-defendant is Dena Major, the child’s mother. She pleaded guilty to the same charges and will be sentenced next month. They will be responsible for restitution to the federal government once they are released from prison.
