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| Photo Credit: AP. |
A Missouri state lawmaker Friday resigned after she was convicted for COVID-19 fraud. Missouri State Rep. Tricia Derges was found guilty by a jury on 22 counts for fraudulently accepting hundreds of thousands of pandemic-era federal stimulus dollars and other offenses, The Hill reports.
Derges was
convicted on Tuesday after she applied for nearly $900,000 in CARES Act funds
for what she said were COVID-19 testing costs incurred by nonprofit Lift UP,
but the organization never provided any testing services, The Hill cited a
press release from the Department of Justice (DOJ).
According to
The Hill, Derges was also found guilty on Tuesday in separate schemes in which
she fraudulently marketed a stem cell treatment and illegally prescribed drugs
to patients.
“It has
truly been an honor to serve the citizens of the 140th District,” Derges wrote
in her resignation letter, where she made no mention of the charges, The Hill
reported. “They are some of the finest people I have ever met. To be a part of
the process that helped bring positive change to our community and to assist
with many of the personal struggles of my constituents is something I will
forever treasure.”
The DOJ said
Lift UP’s medical clinic closed from the beginning of the pandemic in March
2020 until June of the same year, and Derges supported her funding claim by
providing COVID-19 test receipts for her for-profit Ozark Valley Medical
Clinic, according to The Hill.
The DOJ
noted that the clinic had already charged clients $167 per test, but a county
commission paid Derges’s nonprofit $296,574 in CARES Act funds based on the
fraudulent request. Derges subsequently transferred the funds to her for-profit
clinic.
“She
violated her position of trust to selfishly enrich herself at the expense of
others,” said U.S. Attorney Teresa Moore in a statement. “But a jury of her
peers, in a unanimous verdict, saw through her smokescreen of excuses and
ridiculous claims, and now she will be held accountable for her criminal
behavior.”
The Hill
reported that Derges was found guilty of three counts of wire fraud in the
scheme, and added that the jury convicted Derges on another seven counts of
wire fraud for charging patients a combined amount of nearly $200,000 for what
she fraudulently marketed as a stem cell treatment at her for-profit clinic.
The jury
additionally found her guilty on two counts of making false statements for
telling federal agents the treatment contained stem cells when she knew it did
not, in addition to other untrue information, according to The HIll.
Derges was
also found guilty by the jury for illegally prescribing drugs over the internet
without a valid prescription. The Department of Justice further accused Derges,
a licensed assistant physician of writing electronic prescriptions for
Oxycodone and Adderall without conducting in-person medical evaluations of the
patients.
Derges may
face a combined maximum sentence of 410 years in prison.