A Chula Vista mother and her adult daughter have been indicted in an alleged multi-million-dollar Medicare fraud scheme in San Diego, with federal prosecutors alleging that the daughter had no medical license or certifications and yet provided medical services to her mother’s patients in 2024 while her mother was imprisoned on unrelated charges.
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The indictment alleges that Blanca Estela Cardenas, 55, and Raquel Pasillas, 33, fraudulently submitted $9.5 million in Medicare claims under Cardenas’ name during the six-month period that Cardenas, a licensed nurse practitioner, was in federal prison on a cash smuggling conviction. The indictment alleges that it was actually Pasillas who rendered the medical services in place of her imprisoned mother, and that Medicare reimbursed the duo more than $5.5 million for those fraudulent claims.
Cardenas and Pasillas have each pleaded not guilty to one count of health care fraud conspiracy and nine counts of health care fraud. Court-appointed attorneys representing the women did not immediately respond Tuesday to messages seeking comment.
San Diego-area U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon said the indictment, which was unsealed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in San Diego, was part of a massive nationwide crackdown on alleged health care fraud announced Tuesday. The coordinated effort between federal law enforcement agencies and 45 state attorneys general resulted in criminal charges against 455 defendants across the U.S. in cases involving more than $6.5 billion in alleged fraud, authorities said.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta said his office filed criminal charges against 12 defendants involving more than $1.2 million in alleged Medi-Cal fraud as part of the operation. His office did not provide specific information about its cases, but said those charged included doctors, nurse practitioners and a CEO, among other licensed medical professionals.
In the federal case, prosecutors alleged that Cardenas and Pasillas jointly operated two businesses. One was called Mobile Care Medical Providers and was based in San Diego, while the other was called B&R Wound Care and was registered in Arizona.
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In 2023, federal prosecutors charged Cardenas in connection with an alleged drug and cash smuggling operation, and she ultimately pleaded guilty to smuggling bulk cash into the U.S. from Mexico, according to court documents. She was sentenced to a little more than one year in federal prison and served about six months of that term from April to October 2024.
During the time Cardenas was imprisoned, Pasillas allegedly continued to operate the two businesses and allegedly provided medical care to patients herself, including applying skin graft substitutes, despite lacking formal licensing, according to the new indictment. The duo then allegedly billed Medicare under Cardenas’s name and National Provider Identifier number.
Prosecutors alleged that while Cardenas was imprisoned, the mother and daughter withdrew more than $4.7 million in cash of the $5.5 million in allegedly fraudulent reimbursements and deposited that money into their personal bank accounts for their personal use.
If convicted, the women face up to 10 years in prison on each of the 10 charges. A San Diego federal magistrate judge ruled that Pasillas could remain out of custody on $15,000 bond but ordered her mother to remain in custody without bond.
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