FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Pharmacist Sentenced to Prison For Theft From Medicaid

San Antonio, Texas: September 3, 2010

District Attorney Susan D. Reed, in cooperation with the Attorney General’s Office, and the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, announced today that Marcelleus Jhekwuoba Anunobi, age 46, a local pharmacist, was sentenced by Judge Pat Priest, of the 227th Judicial District Court, to twenty years confinement in state prison. Marcelleus Anunobi had been found guilty by a jury on July 26, 2010, for the offense of Medicaid Fraud greater than $200,000.00, a 1st degree felony, which carries a range of punishment of life or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 5 years and a fine not to exceed $10,000.00.

Marcelleus Anunobi was found guilty of billing the Texas Vendor Drug Program, a part of the Texas Medicaid Program, for prescription drugs never requested nor received in an amount greater than $200,000.00. The investigation revealed that this Medicaid billing scheme was a continuing course of conduct by Mr. Anunobi from July of 2007 through August of 2008. As part of the sentence Judge Pat Priest also ordered Anunobi to pay restitution in the amount of $2.2 million dollars to the Texas Medicaid Program.

For more information, contact Adriana Biggs, Chief, White Collar Crime Division, at 335-2404.