A 13-count indictment charges three defendants with conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering of proceeds derived from fraud. According to court documents, between March 2018 and July 2024, Shawn Ashley Grygo, 37, of Forest Lake, Minnesota, Shantel Rene Magadanz, 34, of Stacy, Minnesota, and Heather Lynn Heim, 46, of St. Paul, Minnesota, devised and carried out a healthcare fraud scheme to systematically overbill for drug and alcohol treatment services. The defendants used an outpatient drug and alcohol treatment center called Evergreen Recovery, Inc. to defraud Medicaid and other healthcare programs by billing for treatment that was not provided, services that were not eligible for reimbursement, and billing for treatment services clients were required to attend as a mandatory condition of remaining in free housing provided as a kickback. According to court documents, the conspiracy scheme also involved fraudulent practices designed to facilitate overbilling for group counseling, one-on-one counseling, and treatment coordination services.
As part of their scheme, the defendants created and caused to be created electronic health record chart entries weeks or months after the purported date of services. On at least one occasion, the defendants and others stayed at the office all night before a visit by licensing regulators in order to create hundreds of untimely chart entries. The defendants also hired Peer Coaches and directed them to log their time and activities in a manner that misrepresented the circumstances under which they were interacting with clients in order to facilitate systematic overbilling.
