A superseding indictment filed last week in a federal criminal case accuses owners and managers of Lansdell Family Clinics of healthcare and pandemic relief fraud.
The superseding indictment follows an initial indictment filed in January which accused eight nurse practitioners and pharmacists of distributing opiates, including oxycodone and hydrocodone, without an effective prescription. Tawnya Lee Lansdell, owner of Lansdell Family Clinic locations in Texarkana, De Queen, Dierks and Lockesburg, Arkansas, is the first defendant listed in the prior and most recent indictments.
The superseding indictment adds members of Tawnya Lansdell’s family, Lansdell Family Clinic PLLC and Lansdell Farms as defendants in the federal criminal case.
The original indictment charges Tawnya Lansdell, Claire Terece Russell, Wendy Wynette Gammon, Shelly Rae Eastridge, Bonita Lois Martin, Candace Michelle Whitley, Gina Richardson, and Stephen Hayden Sullivan with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances without a legitimate prescription. The superseding indictment includes that allegation as count one.
The superseding indictment adds Michael Wayne Lansdell, Tawnya Lansdell’s husband, Rusty Lynn Griffin, Tawnya Lansdell’s brother, and Michael “Mick” Wallace Martin, Tawnya Lansdell’s nephew, as defendants accused of healthcare fraud and wire fraud.
Tawnya Lansdell, Griffin and Martin are accused of healthcare fraud in count two of the superseding indictment. Griffin and Martin allegedly worked in management roles and are accused of working with Tawnya Lansdell to overcharge for services and/or bill for services that were not provided in invoices to Medicare, Medicaid and the Health Resources and Services Administration COVID-19 program. The defendants allegedly billed for office visits and other services for patients seeking drive through COVID tests “whether an office visit had taken place or was medically necessary.”
Count three of the superseding indictment accuses Tawnya Lansdell, Michael Lansdell, Lansdell Family Clinic PLLC and Lansdell Farms of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with Paycheck Protection Program loans offered to businesses during the pandemic by the federal government. The Lansdells allegedly acquired a $325,200 PPP loan in April 2020.
Count three alleges that over $236,000 in PPP funds were used to pay off a loan for purchase of land adjacent to Lansdell Farms in Little River County and to buy a boat, a motor and a boat trailer. Michael Lansdell allegedly applied for and received forgiveness of the PPP loan by falsely certifying that the money was used for expenses during the pandemic at Lansdell clinics. Counts four and five accuse Michael Lansdell and Lansdell Family Clinic PLLC of wire fraud.
The government is seeking a judgment against the defendants in counts 2,3,4 and 5 for the full amount of the PPP loan, a Southfork make boat, a Diamond City boat trailer and the property in Little River County.
The case is currently pending before U.S. District Judge Susan O. Hickey in the Texarkana Division of the Western District of Arkansas.
