MT. CARMEL MAN CONVICTED FOLLOWING HEALTH CARE FRAUD TRIAL

Randy G. Massey, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois, today announced that a federal jury, sitting at Benton, Illinois, returned three guilty verdicts on Wednesday November 7, 2007, against RONALD E. WAYLAND, 50, of Mt. Carmel, Illinois, related to Health Care Fraud. Wayland who had previously been released on bail, was immediately remanded to the custody of the United States Marshal following the return of the guilty verdicts and was ordered held pending a sentencing hearing which has been scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on February 9, 2008, at Benton. Each count carries a maximum potential sentence of five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine.

WAYLAND, was charged in three separate counts with filing false, fictitious and fraudulent statements to a health care benefits agency, the Illinois Department of Rehabilitation Services [DORS], in Olney, Illinois, in relation to health care services which were being paid for by the agency for a personal assistant to care for Wayland's mother. This agency administers state and federal Medicaid dollars. The evidence established that the defendant fraudulently received over $108,000, for services never performed by falsely creating documents and setting up a joint bank account to receive money from DORS in the name of a person who had been dead since 1983. The fraud was detected after officials from DORS became suspicious when it appeared that services being paid for by the agency for the care of the defendant's mother were not being provided and demanded to meet with the personal attendant.

Investigation into the case was handled by the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General, the Illinois State Police, Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Michael C. Carr.