ELIZABETH CITY, N.C. (AP) - Federal authorities say the mother and son who owned and operated a now-defunct medical transport company in Gates County face prison sentences for conspiracy to commit health care and wire fraud.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Raleigh said Thursday that Phyllis Stallings Harrell, former owner of Harrell Medical Transport, was sentenced to six years in prison. Her son, Paul Lynn Trueblood, was sentenced to nearly 4½ years. Paul Trueblood is the company’s former operator.
The two pleaded guilty last November, and were each ordered to serve three years of supervised release and reimburse the federal government more than $1.5 million.
Prosecutors said Harrell and Trueblood acknowledged using the company to defraud government and private insurers by billing them for weekly transportation services not eligible for reimbursement by Medicare and Medicaid.
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