A Lexington man, Dashawn Dawkins, 34, was convicted by a federal grand jury in Lexington for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud and conspiracy to receive kickbacks. Dawkins was a peer support specialist at Serenity Keeper’s, LLC, a sober home company based in Fayette County, Kentucky, that purported to provide mental health and substance abuse treatment services and housing for individuals enrolled in its program. The evidence at trial showed that Mr. Dawkins received $62,750 in illegal kickbacks for the ordering of urine drug testing at Serenity Keepers that cost Kentucky Medicaid and Medicare a combined $2,569,946. The evidence further showed that the urine drug testing was fraudulent in that it was not ordered by a treating medical provider, nor were the results reviewed by a treating medical provider. Instead, more than 9,000 urine drug tests were ordered under the stolen identification number and forged signature of a Nurse Practitioner who was briefly associated with Serenity Keepers.
The evidence also showed that Serenity Keepers billed for fraudulent peer support services that were not provided at all and were not supervised by licensed professionals, as required by Medicaid regulations. The company billed for 6 hours of peer support services a day for every patient in their care regardless of whether that was provided, including services purportedly provided by Dawkins. Medicaid paid Serenity Keepers $9,077,260 for behavior health claims that were not provided in accordance with Medicaid regulations, or were not provided at all. Dawkins was the fifth defendant convicted as part of the investigation into Serenity Keepers’ scheme.