Faith Newton, 52, of Westford, and Winnie Waruru, 41, of Lowell, were arrested and charged in connection with a $100 million home healthcare fraud scheme. The government also filed a civil action seeking forfeiture of five properties and 40 financial accounts and investments involved in a scheme to launder the ill-gotten gains. According to the indictment, from January 2013 to January 2017, Newton was part owner and operator of Arbor Homecare Services LLC. Waruru was a Licensed Practical Nurse employed as a home health nurse at Arbor. It is alleged that Newton and Waruru engaged in a conspiracy to use Arbor to defraud MassHealth and Medicare of at least $100 million by committing healthcare fraud and paying kickbacks to induce referrals. Newton then allegedly laundered the ill-gotten gains. Specifically, it is alleged that Arbor, through Newton and others, failed to train staff, billed for home health services that were never provided or were not medically necessary and billed for home health services that were not authorized. Arbor, through Newton and others, developed employment relationships as way to pay kickbacks for patient referrals, regardless of medical necessity requirements. They also entered sham employment relationships with patients’ family members to provide home health aide services that were not medically necessary and routinely billed for fictitious visits that Newton knew did not occur.
