ANCHORAGE, Alaska – A federal grand jury in Alaska returned an indictment charging a Matanuska Valley woman with healthcare fraud and with making a false statement in a loan application.
According to court documents, beginning in January 2017, Melissa Ann Dobbs, 50, allegedly executed and attempted to execute a scheme to defraud healthcare benefit programs. The indictment also alleges that Dobbs made a false statement to a federally insured bank. According to State of Alaska records, Dobbs holds a professional behavior analyst license.
Dobbs is charged with one count of healthcare fraud in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1347, and one count for a false statement in a loan application in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1014. The defendant made her initial court appearance on February 6, 2024, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Matthew M. Scoble of the United States District Court for the District of Alaska. If convicted, she faces a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment for the healthcare fraud charge, plus an additional 30 years for the bank loan fraud charge, and a cumulative fine of up to $500,000. Further, the indictment alleges that the Court may order forfeiture of all proceeds traceable to the offense, including funds already seized by the State of Alaska. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after conviction and will consider the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
U.S. Attorney S. Lane Tucker of the District of Alaska, Special Agent in Charge Bryan Denny of the Defense Criminal Investigative Service Seattle Resident Agency, and Special Agent in Charge Weston King of the Small Business Administration Office of Inspector General, Western Regional Office made the announcement.
The Offices of Inspector General of the United States Department of Defense and the Small Business Administration are investigating the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Morgan Walker is prosecuting the case.
On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Justice Department in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The task force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit www.justice.gov/coronavirus.
An indictment is merely an allegation, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
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