Eight individuals have been arrested for their alleged involvement in a $50 million hospice and health care fraud scheme in California.
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the arrests on Friday in a statement. The individuals are charged with running “sham” hospice care facilities that allegedly billed Medicare for patients who were not eligible, the Justice Department indicated.
Each of the involved individuals faces several years in federal prison sentences if convicted. A group of federal agencies is investigating the case, including the FBI, Justice Department, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Labor and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG)
“The defendants charged today allegedly turned hospice care into a cash-producing operation … The magnitude of the losses underscores a deliberate abuse of the authority and trust afforded to health care providers,” HHS-OIG Inspector General T. March Bell said in the DOJ statement. “Today’s takedown reflects HHS-OIG’s commitment to deploy every tool at our disposal, and collaborate with our law enforcement partners, to dismantle hospice operations built on deception. Anyone who seeks to weaponize hospice care to bilk Medicare should expect to be held accountable.”
The alleged fraudulent hospices were all located in or near Los Angeles County, California and include the following companies:
Topanga Hospice Care Inc.
626 Hospice Inc., dba as St. Francis Palliative Care
One Up Hospice Care Inc.
Rosewood Hospice and Palliative Care Inc.
Advance Hospice and Palliative Care Inc.
Comfort Choice Hospice Inc.
Valley Pacific Hospice Inc.
Among the arrested individuals was a licensed vocational nurse, Lolita Beronilla Minerd, 65, who allegedly owned and operated Topanga Hospice Care from July 2020 to April 2025. The hospice company allegedly billed more than $9.17 million in fraudulent Medicare claims and had a live discharge rate nearly 5x the national average. Allegations included soliciting beneficiaries at their homes and in public places for their Medicare identification information, filing claims for individuals who were not terminally ill or eligible to receive hospice. Minerd also allegedly violated the anti-kickback statute after paying marketers for referrals.
Others arrested were psychologist Gladwin Gill, 66, and his wife Amelou Gill, 70 and a registered nurse. The Gills owned and operated St. Francis Palliative Care and fraudulently billed Medicare upwards of $5.2 million in services that were not medically necessary or never provided to patients. They are also accused of paying illegal kickbacks for referrals and laundering money through the hospice, which was spent on personal expenses such as bills, mortgage and car payments, international flights and dining, the Justice Department reported.
The fraud scheme also involved Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, 76, and her husband, Adolfo Catbagan, 68. Both are charged with an 11-count indictment of operating at least three fraudulent hospice facilities that submitted at least $4.2 million in false claims. Palma is incarcerated in a federal prison, while Catbagan was arrested on Friday. Palma was previously sentenced to 108 months in federal prison for her involvement in an illegal kickback scheme to the tune of $10.6 million involving two California-based hospice companies.
The arrested individuals also included Evelyn Tindimobuna, 51, a licensed vocational nurse. She allegedly submitted more than $3.8 million in Medicare false claims through Comfort Choice Hospice from January 2022 to September 2025. Tindimobuna additionally faces anti-kickback violation charges for illegal payments made in exchange for referrals.
Additionally named in the fraud scheme was Ivan Verne Lauritzen, 50, who served as CEO and CFO at Valley Pacific Hospice. The hospice’s Medicare license was revoked in 2024 after audits identified patterns of false billing claims submitted between August 2023 and March 2024. The hospice bilked more than half a million in Medicare dollars while also reporting live discharge rates that were significantly higher than the national average. Lauritzen has been released on bond.
California is among the fraud hotspots that began to emerge in 2021, joined by Arizona, Nevada and Texas. Georgia and Ohio were also recently identified as areas of concern.
Scores of new fraudulent operators have entered these states, often enrolling Medicare beneficiaries in hospice care without their knowledge or without providing services. Some of the fraud schemes have involved illegal kickbacks and a practice known as “license flipping,” in which new operators sell their licenses soon after obtaining them before regulators can act. Fraudsters have faced prison sentences and millions in fines for their alleged involvement.
Federal regulators and local law enforcement have increasingly collaborated to better identify and prevent health care fraud.
Enforcement actions and sustained engagement from federal and state agencies is much needed to curb the fraudulent activity, according to Sheila Clark, CEO of the California Hospice and Palliative Care Association (CHAPCA).
“Federal action this week marks a critical step in confronting the hospice fraud crisis that CHAPCA has long sounded the alarm on,” Clark said in a statement shared with Hospice News. “We simply cannot let scammers continue exploiting Medicare benefits by fraudulently enrolling seniors in hospice on the taxpayers’ dime. Whether through deception or identity theft, these schemes need to stop. It’s not fair to the nurses, spiritual bereavement counselors, aides, social workers, physicians and other incredible individuals providing high-quality care for patients and their families when they need it most.”