Kinston woman gets 6 years in Medicaid kickback scheme

NEW BERN, N.C. (WITN) - A Kinston woman is heading to federal prison and ordered to pay back $15 million in a Medicaid fraud scheme.

Francine Super was sentenced to six years after her guilty plea in the healthcare fraud conspiracy last summer.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Super was an office manager for Life Touch, LLC.

Life Touch is a Kinston-based company. In June, the Department of Justice named that company and 1st Choice Healthcare Services in a $14.6 billion national fraud takedown.

Super’s daughter, Kimberly Sims, owns 1st Choice, a lab company hired to do drug testing services for Life Touch, according to the DOJ.

Along with others, the U.S. Attorney’s Office says court documents show that Keke Johnson and Super used Medicaid reimbursement funds to purchase more than $1 million in gift cards.

Court documents say over four years, Johnson and Super, along with other employees and agents, gave Life Touch patients gift cards based on the number of days per week they received treatment.

The two also got kickbacks from 1st Choice and neither woman reported this as income or tax returns, according to court documents.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office says Johnson, Life Touch LLC’s compliance director, and Super admitted to being part of the scheme that also involved tax violations.

Johnson faces up to 11 years when she is sentenced.