Medicaid service providers sentenced for false statements resulting in overbilling

NORFOLK, Va. - Two sisters were sentenced to prison yesterday following their conviction at trial for false statements made in connection with mental health services billed to Medicaid.

According to court documents, Chenelle Wright, 45, of Moyock, North Carolina, owned and operated Community Counseling Resources (CCR), which had locations in Chesapeake and Portsmouth. Wright's sister, Chaniece Winfield, 40, also of Mayock, was CCR's clinical director. CCR was authorized to provide after-school mental health services to Medicaid recipients, including therapeutic day treatment (TDT), a type of individualized intervention for children and adolescents with mental, emotional, or behavioral illnesses with symptoms that cause significant functional impairments.

Most of the children in the afterschool TDT program were not dismissed from their schools until well after 2:00pm, with some remaining until as late as 3:55pm, and many did not arrive at CCR's facilities until about 4:30pm. Wright and Winfield instructed and directed CCR employees to falsely claim in progress notes that children were receiving therapeutic services from 2:00pm to 7:00pm and provided progress note "templates" to CCR employees in which the start and end times of 2:00pm and 7:00pm were prefilled.

Wright was sentenced to three years and five months in prison. Winfield was sentenced to two years in prison.

The FBI's Norfolk Field Office and the Office of the Attorney General of Virginia investigated this case.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Anthony C. Mozzi and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Nikolas Nelson prosecuted the case.

Related court documents and information are located on the website of the District CourtLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. for the Eastern District of Virginia or on PACERLinks to other government and non-government sites will typically appear with the "external link" icon to indicate that you are leaving the Department of Justice website when you click the link. by searching for Case No. 2:24-cr-35.