The same month Gov. Tim Walz announced he finally plans to crack down on fraud involving government programs, a previously convicted felon has been charged with scamming $7.3 million from Medicaid through a fraudulent billing scheme.
The charges are just the latest in a seemingly endless stream of fraud cases that have come to light in the last few years that have totaled hundreds of millions of dollars stolen from taxpayers.
Chavis Dupree Willis, now 46, was previously convicted in 2000 of aiding and abetting second-degree murder, and is therefore barred from owning, managing, or operating any Medicaid-funded business, according to information released by the Minnesota Attorney General’s Office on Thursday.
However, Willis allegedly used duplicitous means to operate a Medicaid-funded business called 1-0 Granny’s Helpful Hands LLC, which claimed to provide home and community-based services (HCBS) and PCA services to Medicaid recipients throughout Minnesota. Willis is accused of using the business, which enrolled with the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) to be a PCA provider agency in 2012, to bilk the Medicaid program out of over $7.3 million. Attorney General Keith Ellison alleges Willis billed for services not provided and for services rendered at an agency operated by a provider with Willis’ prior convictions.
The criminal complaint describes that Willis repeatedly and falsely represented to DHS that his mother, Raynell Finn, who lived in California, owned the business, which was operated out of an office located at 705 East Lake Street in Minneapolis. The investigation found that Finn was minimally involved in operating the business, while Willis controlled all agency operations. Willis took actions that included forging his mother’s signature on documents and impersonating his mother in phone calls and correspondence with DHS, the complaint alleges.
While controlling the business, Willis hired Kathryn Marie Koelfgen, 46, as a biller with whom he was in a romantic relationship and who had prior identity theft and other felony convictions that prohibited her from working as a biller at a Medicaid-funded business.
While Koelfgen worked at Granny’s and Willis operated it, Granny’s regularly billed for services not provided to Medicaid recipients, the complaint says. At one point, Koelfgen began serving a jail sentence for her prior identity theft conviction; Willis impersonated his mother on a call with jail staff to ensure that Koelfgen was authorized for work release to continue working at 1-0 Granny’s Helpful Hands, according to the complaint. Koelfgen has since pled guilty to felony theft by false representation for her role in the scheme. She is currently in custody at Hennepin County Jail.
The charging document states that both Willis and his mother were drawing salaries of nearly $100,000 per year, while there was little evidence that Finn did any work at the business. In addition to the salary Willis was collecting, the complaint describes several large transfers from the business checking account into Willis’ personal checking account.
“When criminals defraud Medicaid, they are stealing money that should be providing health care to folks who are struggling financially,” said Attorney General Ellison. “My office has a long record of success in holding Medicaid fraudsters accountable for cheating taxpayers and people in need, and we will keep doing so.”
Willis has been charged with one felony count of racketeering and four felony counts of theft by swindle for incidents detailed from approximately September 2017 through December 2021.
Willis has been charged by summons, as opposed to an arrest warrant, and does not appear to be in custody at this time; therefore, no current booking photo is available. Willis is scheduled to make his first appearance on the charges in Hennepin County District Court on Jan. 27.
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Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
Crime Watch MN
Minnesota Crime Watch & Information publishes news, info and commentary about crime, public safety and livability issues in Minneapolis, the Twin Cities and Greater Minnesota.
