A married couple formerly based in central Ohio is facing 12 felony charges over an alleged $9.3 million Medicaid fraud scheme involving services prosecutors say were never provided.
A Franklin County grand jury indicted Roberta Acheampong, 39, and her husband, Godfred Owusu-Sekyere, 46, following a lengthy investigation by the Ohio Attorney General’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit. Authorities believe the couple, who previously lived in Powell, may now be residing in Ghana or Kenya. Their citizenship has not been officially stated.
The charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, telecommunications fraud, theft, forgery, Medicaid fraud, money laundering and identity fraud.
Investigators linked the alleged scheme to One Community Mental Health, a behavioral-health clinic owned and operated by the couple in Franklin County.
According to prosecutors, the company repeatedly billed Ohio Medicaid for mental-health and therapeutic behavioral services supposedly provided to entire households. Many of the people listed as recipients were reportedly refugees seeking assistance with resettlement.
Authorities allege that those families were sometimes billed several times a week without their knowledge, even though the claimed treatment was unnecessary or never occurred.
The couple is also accused of forging documents and using the identities of translation and transportation workers to submit additional Medicaid claims under those employees’ names.
Banking records reviewed during the investigation allegedly showed that the Medicaid payments were moved through several accounts. Prosecutors claim that some of the money was then used to support an expensive lifestyle, including the purchase of real estate and a Porsche.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson described the alleged loss as money taken directly from taxpayers and pledged that his office would continue pursuing providers suspected of abusing the public healthcare system.
The announcement formed part of a broader Medicaid fraud crackdown in Franklin County. Ten other healthcare providers were separately indicted over allegations involving a combined loss of more than $563,000.
The investigation into Acheampong and Owusu-Sekyere has drawn additional attention because authorities believe they are currently outside the United States. The Ohio Attorney General’s announcement did not disclose whether arrest warrants, extradition proceedings or international law-enforcement requests have been issued.
No trial date or formal response from the couple’s legal representatives was publicly available at the time of reporting.
The indictment does not establish guilt. Acheampong and Owusu-Sekyere are presumed innocent unless prosecutors prove the allegations against them beyond a reasonable doubt in court.
