Missionary advisor accused of $2 million health care fraud

A A 46-year-old Mission man is accused of defrauding the Texas Medicaid program of $2 million by pretending to offer counseling services at his Brownsville office.

However, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas, federal prosecutors claim that Juan Martin Flores never actually provided these services.

A grand jury indicted Flores on August 7 and he was arrested on Thursday.

He is accused of submitting more than 15,000 fraudulent claims to Medicaid for services that were never provided.

“Between 2018 and 2022, the claims resulted in approximately $2 million in Medicaid payments, according to the indictments,” the press release states. “The indictment also alleges that Flores used Medicaid recipients' personal information without their consent to facilitate the fraudulent billing scheme.”

Prosecutors allege Flores filed the claims under his national provider identification and stated he offered consulting services from his Brownsville office.

“However, he allegedly never actually provided those services,” the press release states. “The indictment details several instances in which he improperly used the identities of Medicaid recipients to submit fraudulent claims.”

As of Friday morning, access to the indictment in the Federal Court's files was still not possible.

Flores is charged with ten counts of health care fraud and three counts of aggravated identity theft.

His first appearance before U.S. Magistrate Judge J. Scott Hacker in McAllen federal court was scheduled for Friday morning.