Federal prosecutors say the cases span sham hospice billing, union health plan claims and falsified immigration medical forms.
LOS ANGELES, CA — Federal authorities arrested eight people this week in and around Los Angeles after filing charges in a wide-ranging health care fraud crackdown that prosecutors say involved more than $50 million in intended losses tied largely to hospice billing schemes.
The arrests matter because the cases pull together several strands of alleged fraud that officials say have drained Medicare and private health plans across Southern California for years. Prosecutors say most of the money came from hospice operators who billed for people who were not dying, while other defendants are accused of targeting a labor union health plan and preparing false immigration medical paperwork. The charges place the region at the center of a new federal anti-fraud push and bring a fresh round of court hearings, bond decisions and possible prison terms.
The takedown was announced Thursday by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles after arrests in California and Idaho. Prosecutors said six defendants were scheduled to appear that afternoon in federal court in downtown Los Angeles, while another defendant was expected in federal court in Idaho. One of the people named in the hospice cases, Ivan Verne Lauritzen of Simi Valley, had already made an initial appearance Tuesday and was released on a $10,000 bond. His arraignment was set for April 27. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said in announcing the cases that the government was taking a “zero-tolerance policy” toward people accused of stealing health care dollars. The largest cluster of allegations centered on hospice companies in Glendale, Artesia, Tarzana and Simi Valley, where investigators said operators submitted claims for patients who did not qualify for end-of-life care.
According to prosecutors, the biggest single Medicare case involved Lolita Beronilla Minerd, 65, an Anaheim licensed vocational nurse accused of running Artesia-based Topanga Hospice Care as a billing vehicle from July 2020 through April 2025. Court documents say the company submitted more than $9.1 million in hospice claims and received more than $8.5 million from Medicare. Investigators said some beneficiaries shared addresses, lived far from the facility and appeared to have been recruited through marketers. In one example described by prosecutors, a couple said they were promised $300 each per month if they enrolled, even though neither had a terminal illness. They told investigators they later received items they did not need, including nutritional shakes, vitamins and wheelchairs. Prosecutors also said Topanga recorded a non-death discharge rate of about 85%, far above the national average of 17.2% cited for 2021.
Other hospice cases followed a similar pattern, though the details differed. Prosecutors said Gladwin Gill, 66, a purported psychologist, and his wife, Amelou Gill, 70, a registered nurse, used a Glendale business known as St. Francis Palliative Care to submit more than $5.2 million in claims and collect more than $4 million for services that were not medically necessary or were never provided. Another case names Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, 76, who is already imprisoned in Seattle, and her husband, Adolfo Cezar Catbagan, 68, in an indictment accusing them of opening three Glendale hospices while Palma was allegedly barred from doing so. Prosecutors say those companies submitted at least $4.8 million in false claims and drew at least $4.2 million in Medicare payments. A fourth hospice defendant, Evelyn Tindimobuna, 51, of Chatsworth, is accused of using Tarzana-based Comfort Choice Hospice to seek more than $3.8 million, of which Medicare paid about $3.4 million. She had not been arrested as of the announcement.
The accusations reach beyond hospice care. Prosecutors said four South Bay-connected defendants were charged in a separate information alleging a $19 million scheme aimed at the health plan of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Pacific Maritime Association and other private insurers. The defendants include Tolu Aulava-Moala of Carson, chiropractor John Nicola of El Segundo, Crysta Richter of Torrance and John Keohuloa of Long Beach. Court papers say the group submitted claims over more than a decade through several chiropractic and physical therapy businesses, billed for unnecessary or unprovided services, and used fake notes and false reimbursement claims. A separate indictment accuses Sonia Griffen, 51, of Lakewood, of sending nearly $5 million in fraudulent claims through Bee Well Holistic Wellness Center after the union plan had already barred that company from billing. Prosecutors say the plan paid about $2.5 million. In another branch of the crackdown, Young Joo Ko, 59, of East Hollywood, was charged with preparing false immigration medical paperwork by presenting herself as a nurse or doctor even though applicants had not been examined as required.
The cases also land in a region where hospice fraud has drawn years of scrutiny. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said California had already moved aggressively before the latest arrests, pointing to a 2021 law that halted new hospice licenses for a period because of fraud concerns. The governor’s office also said the state has revoked more than 280 hospice licenses in the past two years and has about 300 providers under investigation. Federal officials, meanwhile, have argued that Southern California remains a high-risk area. FBI Los Angeles chief Akil Davis said the region is especially vulnerable to hospice-related fraud and said investigators are trying to reverse a trend that drains money from public health programs. Dr. Mehmet Oz, who heads the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said federal officials had recently “took out” 221 hospices and vowed to review every hospice in California, though his agency did not immediately detail what actions were included in that number.
For now, the legal process is moving case by case. The criminal complaints and indictments filed in federal court contain allegations, not findings of guilt, and each defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty. Prosecutors said standard health care fraud counts in these cases carry maximum penalties of up to 10 years in federal prison. Wire fraud counts can bring up to 20 years, and aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two-year consecutive sentence. Some defendants were arrested and brought to court immediately, while others are expected to be summoned in the coming weeks. Lauritzen’s April 27 arraignment is the clearest next date on the calendar so far. Prosecutors have not yet announced trial dates, plea discussions or any final forfeiture totals, and in several cases it was not immediately clear whether the defendants had retained lawyers who could speak publicly on their behalf.
Outside the courthouse and inside the agencies that worked the cases, officials cast the arrests as an effort to restore trust in programs meant for seriously ill patients and workers with employer health coverage. Investigators from the FBI, the Department of Health and Human Services inspector general, IRS Criminal Investigation, the Labor Department and immigration authorities all took part in pieces of the inquiry. In one of the sharpest statements, Inspector General T. March Bell said the defendants had allegedly turned hospice care into “a cash producing operation.” That language reflected a theme running through the allegations: prosecutors say the schemes did not depend on a single false bill, but on repeated use of medical identities, recruited beneficiaries, sham ownership structures and paperwork designed to make ordinary people look eligible for costly care or benefits. The coming hearings are expected to show how much of that evidence prosecutors can connect directly to each person charged.
Author note: Last updated April 4, 2026.