Atawan Mundu John, a.k.a., John Mundu Atawan, 46, of Hyattsville, Maryland, was sentenced on November 16, 2023, to nine months in prison for attempting to tamper with a witness more than nine years ago during a federal healthcare fraud investigation. In February 2014, a federal grand jury charged Florence Bikundi, who owned and operated a home healthcare agency, with various offenses related to a multimillion-dollar scheme to defraud the DC Medicaid program. The defendant was employed by Bikundi’s agency as a personal care aide. After Bikundi was arrested, the investigation into her and others continued. As part of its investigation, law enforcement agents interviewed the defendant multiple times.
On June 12, 2014, a Medicaid beneficiary who received kickbacks from the defendant to help facilitate Medicaid fraud placed a recorded call to the defendant that lasted approximately 18 minutes. During that call, the defendant – fully aware of the active federal investigation – instructed the beneficiary to lie to the FBI about ever receiving money or kickbacks. The defendant admitted on the call that paying money to beneficiaries was fraud. Law enforcement agents confronted the defendant with the recorded call five days later. Before formal charges were brought against him, the defendant fled the area. The defendant remained a fugitive until July 13, 2023, when he was arrested in Maryland. He has been held without bond since his arrest. US District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell sentenced him on November 16, 2023, to nine months in prison followed by three years of supervised release. She also ordered that he pay $80,493 in restitution to the DC Medicaid program, an amount equal to what Medicaid paid home health agencies for false claims associated with three Medicaid beneficiaries to whom the defendant paid kickbacks.
