From staff reports OKLAHOMA CITY – Three Lawton-area residents and business owners were sentenced for their roles in a conspiracy to commit fraud by submitting invoices for health care services that were not performed.
Jimmie Mathews, 41; Nathan Mathews, 42; and Amber Delger, 55, all pleaded guilty.
The three were each charged in May 2024. Delger was accused of conspiring to commit health care fraud. The Mathews brothers were charged in a 16-count federal grand jury indictment with conspiring to commit health care fraud and 15 counts of health care fraud.
Beginning in 2016, Nathan Mathews owned Emerald Lane Therapy Services in Lawton, a massage therapy provider; Delger was a subsequent co-owner of the company. Nathan and Jimmie Mathews also owned a separate massage therapy provider, Stars & Stripes Therapy, which opened its doors in Lawton in January 2020.
Both businesses purportedly treated TRICARE beneficiaries, submitted claims to the Defense Health Agency and received payments from DHA for those services. TRICARE is the U.S. military’s health care program.
Court records reflect that starting in January 2018, the defendants conspired together to submit false and fraudulent claims to TRICARE for services that were never rendered.
Court documents allege that after TRICARE beneficiaries visited either of the businesses, the defendants would schedule multiple appointments for the beneficiaries many months in advance. If the beneficiary couldn’t make the appointments, or stopped coming altogether, the defendants would nonetheless continue to bill TRICARE as if the beneficiaries had received care.
Additionally, Emerald Lane billed TRICARE using the National Provider Identity number of an occupational therapist long after the therapist had stopped working for the business. In total, Emerald Lane and Stars & Stripes billed more than $7 million to TRICARE and received nearly $3 million in reimbursement.
In October 2024, the Mathews brothers pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. Delger pleaded guilty to the same charge in June 2024.
Nathan was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Jodi W. Dishman to serve 87 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $1,410,255 in restitution.
Jimmie was sentenced by Dishman to 42 months in federal prison followed by three years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $632,026 in restitution.
Delger was sentenced in January to serve 26 months in federal prison followed by two years of supervised release, and was ordered to pay $653,269 in restitution. Dishman described the fraud scheme as egregious and far reaching in its scope, duration, and impact.
“Through their fraudulent conduct, these defendants exploited programs intended to provide critical benefits to our nation’s military, veterans, and their families,” said Western District U.S. Attorney Robert J. Troester.
“The Defense Criminal Investigative Service is committed to ensuring TRICARE is not subjected to fraudulent schemes that expose beneficiaries to harm and waste valuable tax dollars,” said Chad Gosch, acting special agent in charge of the Department of Defense Office of Inspector General, DCIS Southwest Field Office.