CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A mother and son were sentenced to federal prison Wednesday for a multimillion-dollar scheme to fraudulently bill government medical programs through a Northeast Ohio home health-care company.

Delores Knight, 71, of Cleveland Heights was sentenced to 10 years in prison. Isaac Knight, 30, of Macedonia, was given a sentence of more than seven years.

Both were found guilty at trial in January of a scheme that defrauded government programs out of more than $8 million. Prosecutors say the Knights, along with three others, ran Just Like Familee II Inc. and Just Like Familee III Inc., which provided health care services for the elderly and the disabled from their offices in Cleveland Heights, Twinsburg and Mentor.

They collected millions by preparing and submitting forged documents to Medicare, Medicaid and the VA for services they never provided. The paperwork said many clients had received visits, yet those same clients did not receive any care.

Prosecutors said Delores Knight was the ringleader.

Three others were indicted in the scheme following a multi-agency investigation. Sonja Ferrell, the company's nursing director, pleaded guilty and was sentenced Wednesday to 18 months in federal prison and Juliet Bonner, the company's bookkeeper, was placed on home detention for eight months.
Both testified against the Knights.

U.S. District Judge Donald Nugent allowed the defendants to report to prison at a later date. He ordered all of the defendants to pay back the more than $8.1 million they fraudulently obtained.

He also ordered the forfeiture of the illegally obtained money, as well as a home Delores Knight owned in Macedonia and a house her daughter purchased in Twinsburg.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Mark Bennett said the group's actions were "affecting our most vulnerable population."

Delores Knight told the judge before her sentencing that she didn't do anything wrong. In a speech in which she got increasingly worked up, she claimed she was not getting rich and she often had to pay business expenses out of her own pocket.

She said she had tried to do the right thing.

"I wouldn't knowingly do anything wrong," Delores Knight said.

Isaac Knight said he did not know about the fraud and that nobody at trial pointed to him at trial as the one giving the orders.
Nugent told the Knights that he is bound by the jury's verdict and must act accordingly.

Theresa Adams, Delores Knight's daughter, was also charged but died of cancer shortly after her indictment.

Resource: http://www.cleveland.com/