Sixteen people, led by two couples, operated bogus hospice care facilities out of Upland and Colton, bilking the federal government of more than $4.2 million, according to the California Attorney General’s Office. .
New Hope Hospice, formerly located at 818 N Mountain Avenue in Upland, and Sterling Hospice Care, which was being run out of 1007 E Cooley Drive in Colton, are no longer in business, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Bonta was in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday to announce action that his office is taking against Ralph Canales, Giovanni Ibale, Rochell Paragados Canales, Maureen Ibale, Romeo Rodriguez, Estrella Asejo, Sherwin Canale, Lemuel Ursales, Rose Lee, Marieta Ancheta, Juliet Meer, Alberto Cabusao, Emerita Manicane, Myrna Cadavona and Melita Cachapero. The sixteen are charged with conspiracy to commit Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud, identity theft, grand theft, money laundering and tax evasion.
Among the sixteen are two doctors who assisted in the perpetration of the fraud.
Ralph Canales and Rochell Paragados Canales, a married couple, and Giovanni Ibale and Maureen Ibale, another married couple, were the owners and operators of New Hope Hospice Inc. and Sterling Hospice Care Inc.Sixteen people, led by two couples, operated bogus hospice care facilities out of Upland and Colton, bilking the federal and state government out of more than $4.2 million, according to the California Attorney General’s Office.
New Hope Hospice, formerly located at 818 N. Mountain Avenue in Upland, and Sterling Hospice Care, which was being run out of 1007 E. Cooley Drive in Colton, are no longer in business, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta.
Bonta was in Rancho Cucamonga on Thursday to announce action that his office is taking against Ralph Canales, Giovanni Ibale, Rochell Paragados Canales, Maureen Ibale, Romeo Rodriguez, Estrella Asejo, Sherwin Canale, Lemuel Ursales, Rose Lee, Marieta Ancheta, Juliet Meer, Alberto Cabusao, Emerita Manicane, Myrna Cadavona and Melita Cachapero. The sixteen are charged with conspiracy to commit Medicare and Medi-Cal fraud, identity theft, grand theft, money laundering and tax evasion.
Among the sixteen are two doctors who assisted in the perpetration of the fraud.
Ralph Canales and Rochell Paragados Canales, a married couple, and Giovanni Ibale and Maureen Ibale, another married couple, were the owners and operators of New Hope Hospice Inc. and Sterling Hospice Care Inc.
A hospice is an institution, residential home, nursing home or care facility that provides care for the gravely sick, terminally ill or those at the end of life for whom the prospect of recovery is nonexistent.
Romeo Rodriguez, an M.D., was employed as the medical director of both New Hope Hospice Inc. and Sterling Hospice Care Inc. He and another physician, Estrella Asejo, approved patients for hospice care irrespective of whether they were actually terminal ill.
According to Bonta, state authorities’ suspicions were raised during an investigation into an unlicensed board-and-care facility, when it was noted that patients who were not terminally ill were receiving what was deemed to be hospice care. There were more than two dozen such patients, none of whom died. Nearly all of the patients, when interviewed, did not know they had been enrolled in an end-of-life care program. Although some were aware they were in what was represented as a hospice setting, none knew what the definition of a hospice was, Bonta said.