Middle Georgia Family Rehab Owner Sentenced to Prison for Falsifying Patient Records During Federal Investigation

Brenda Hicks, 59, of Lizella, Georgia, owner of Middle Georgia Family Rehab, located at 4671 Mercer University Dr in Macon, has been sentenced to 12 months and one day in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for conspiracy to obstruct justice. U.S. District Judge Marc Treadwell handed down the sentence on September 5. Hicks also faces a restitution payment of $191,645.20 to TRICARE, Medicare, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Medicaid, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Federal parole is not available.

U.S. Attorney Peter D. Leary emphasized the seriousness of tampering with documents in a federal investigation. Hicks had instructed two employees at her rehabilitation facility to alter documents after receiving a Civil Investigative Demand (CID) on October 7, 2019. She labeled the CID as an “audit” and directed the employees to falsify records by creating or signing documents to meet the CID’s requirements.

One employee resigned due to concerns about the legality of the instructions, while the other complied and doctored the records. These altered records were submitted to the U.S. Attorney’s Office on December 2, 2019. Hicks admitted to conspiring to alter patient records to impede their use in a civil action.

The investigation involved the Department of Defense’s Defense Criminal Investigative Service, the Department of Health & Human Services Office of Inspector General, the Georgia Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, and the VA Office of Inspector General, with assistance from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Howard prosecuted the case.