FORT PIERCE – A Vero Beach woman indicted by a federal grand jury in connection with a multimillion-dollar Medicare fraud case was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison, court records show.
Pamala Ann Seymour, 60, owner and operator of Need A Brace LLC and Orthotics Now, Inc., both of Fort Pierce, when arrested in May 2023, was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release with six months in prison . under house arrest after her release from prison.
During a two-hour hearing, U.S. District Judge Aileen M. Cannon also ordered Seymour to pay $1,314,857 in restitution, court documents show.
Seymour, who pleaded guilty in February to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, was accused of submitting fraudulent claims to Medicare “that were obtained through the payment of kickbacks and bribes (and) were not medically necessary,” according to court records.
Federal prosecutors alleged in court documents that Seymour and anonymous accomplices sent Medicare a bill for $2,730,507, totaling $1,312,857.
“Seymour and her co-conspirators then used the fraudulently obtained proceeds for their personal use and benefit, and to further the fraud,” according to a de facto offer she signed on Feb. 2.
Seymour sold Need A Brace LLC and Orthotics Now, Inc. to other co-conspirators in 2018, court records show, but she was accused of continuing to participate in the conspiracy.
Her Tampa attorney, Simon Gaugush of Carlton Fields PA, noted in court papers that Seymour was “well aware of the embarrassment this has caused her family” and realized “that her actions were jeopardizing her reputation and jobs of its employees at risk.”
He urged Cannon to impose a sentence of house arrest and parole on him.
“To say she is remorseful is an understatement. Ms. Seymour’s personal admission of misconduct is real,” Gaugush wrote. “She has spent 25 years building a reputation for excellence and professionalism and now she has to deal with being a convicted felon; Worse still, the prospect of a prison sentence.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lindsey Lazopoulos Friedman asked Cannon in a sentencing memo to sentence Seymour to 30 months in prison.
“The defendant participated in the conspiracy in a crucial way: setting up the companies, recruiting co-conspirators, contracting with and paying marketers, submitting false claims to Medicare, and certifying their accuracy of it,” Friedman wrote.
“It is because of her role as an experienced, successful and knowledgeable businesswoman,” Friedman added, “that she was able to help create and participate in a scheme that went largely unnoticed for years.”
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Melissa E. Holsman is a legal affairs reporter for TCPalm and Treasure Coast Newspapers and is a writer and co-host of “Uncertain terms,” a true crime podcast. Reach her at melissa.holsman@tcpalm.com. If you are a subscriber, thank you. If you’re not, become a subscriber for the latest local news on the Treasure Coast.
This article originally appeared in Treasure Coast Newspapers: Vero Beach woman found guilty of Medicare fraud, sentenced to prison
