Show-Me State Times

An indictment has accused a St. Louis County man and an Alabama woman of engaging in an illegal kickback scheme involving genetic and COVID-19 tests given to seniors.

Willie Ann Cleveland and Timothy C. Peoples were indicted on August 7 in U.S. District Court in St. Louis on one count of conspiracy to receive and pay health care kickbacks. Peoples, 56, of Bridgeton, Missouri, appeared in court Friday and pleaded not guilty. Cleveland, 41, of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, was arrested on August 14 and pleaded not guilty the same day.

From 2017 through August 7, 2024, Peoples collected biological specimens for genetic and COVID-19 testing, primarily from Medicare patients at senior citizen centers in eastern Missouri, the indictment says. Cleveland introduced Peoples to laboratory personnel so that they could set up the kickback scheme, according to the indictment. It states that Peoples and Cleveland created sham contracts to conceal the kickbacks as a “monthly flat marketing fee.”

Cleveland received $9,000 from a laboratory on March 1, 2022, and wired $7,000 to Peoples three days later, according to one allegation in the indictment.

The indictment also claims that Cleveland and Peoples offered to pay a physician a $100 kickback for each lab test ordered.

Additionally, both Cleveland and Peoples are accused of lying to federal agents who were investigating.

Charges set forth in an indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.

The conspiracy charge is punishable by up to five years in prison, a $250,000 fine or both prison time and a fine.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Wiseman is prosecuting it.