A West Monroe, La., businessman whose two home health agencies received millions in Medicare overpayments was sentenced this month to 24 months in prison for concealing assets in a bankruptcy filing, The Ouachita Citizen reported. Earlier this year, Jones pleaded guilty to one count of concealment of assets in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, court documents show. In a Dec. 20 judgment, U.S. District Court Judge Elizabeth Foote sentenced Jones to 24 months in prison with credit for time served as well as a fine of $10,100. Jones’ two companies, United Home Care Inc. and Trinity Home Health Care Inc., have been the subject of a probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. United Home Care and Trinity Home Health Care shuttered in 2017. Claims of check-kiting and embezzlement first flew in a 2017 lawsuit Jones filed at Fourth Judicial District Court against two of his colleagues: Charlie L. Simpson, of Downsville, who worked as the chief operating officer of United Home Care and Trinity Home Health Care, and Charles R. Gardner, of West Monroe, who worked as chief financial officer at United and Trinity. In the 2017 lawsuit, United Home Care Inc. and others v. Charlie Simpson and others, Jones accused Simpson and Gardner of embezzling money from his home health agencies. Gardner and Simpson responded with a counter lawsuit against Jones, claiming he was using lawsuits to conceal his participation in the embezzlement. Jones’s sentence this month stemmed from an eight-count indictment last fall. In a grand jury indictment on Sept. 13, 2022, Jones was charged with eight counts of concealment of assets, a violation of federal law.
