George Houser was found guilty of diverting to personal use much of the $32.9 million he received to run three nursing homes, including the development of several hotel complexes, while his patients were left without adequate food or medicine. Houser additionally failed to pay more than $800,000 in employee payroll taxes.
On top of the 20-year prison term, Houser was ordered to repay more than $6.7m to the low-income Medicaid programme and Medicare, the US federal scheme for pensioners, as well as the money owed the Internal Revenue Service.
Wife complicit
Houser’s wife, Rhonda Washington Houser, pleaded guilty to ‘misprision of fraud’, but has yet to be sentenced.
Daily Report Online reported that US Attorney Sally Qullian Yates commented that ‘this defendant stole millions of dollars in Medicare funds to fund his luxurious lifestyle, while the nursing home residents entrusted to his care went without food or medicine.’ She added that it is the first time a defendant has been convicted in federal court for submitting payment claims for ‘worthless services’.
Sentence justified
According to the Latin American Herald Tribune, Derrick Jackson -- an agent of the Department of Health and Human Services who investigated the case -- the ‘severe’ sentence is fitting for someone who provided ‘horrendous care, while at the same time wallowing in luxury’, as well as acting as a caution to others involved in similar crimes.
William Morrison of Atlanta law firm Jones Morrison & Womack represented Houser.
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