LOS ANGELES – A federal jury today convicted three defendants who participated in an $18.5 million scheme that submitted fraudulent claims to California’s Drug Medi-Cal program for alcohol and drug treatment services for high school and middle school students.

With today’s guilty verdicts, a total of 19 people have been convicted of federal criminal charges stemming from fraudulent bills submitted by a Long Beach company – the non-profit Atlantic Recovery Services (ARS), later called Atlantic Health Services – that provided substance use disorder treatment services to students at local high schools and middle schools through Medi-Cal and its Drug Medi-Cal program.

The three defendants convicted today of health care fraud charges are:

• Gregory Hearns, 66, of Compton, the billing supervisor for ARS who compiled the monthly billing and arranged for its submission to Medi-Cal (guilty of one count and acquitted on 10 others);
• LaLonnie Egans, 64, of Bellflower, a former manager at ARS (guilty of three counts);
• Tina Lynn St. Julian, 58, of Inglewood, a former counselor at ARS (guilty of four counts).

United States District Judge Philip S. Gutierrez is scheduled to sentence all three defendants on July 15, at which time each will face up to 10 years in prison for each count of conviction.

According to court documents and the evidence presented at a 12-day trial, the participants in the ARS scheme defrauded the Drug Medi-Cal program by submitting bills for services to students who...

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