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Sarasota nurse practitioner, two Tampa Bay-area nurses charged in $118M Medicare fraud scheme
ABC7 WWSB • • nation
Key Points:
- Three healthcare professionals, including Sarasota nurse practitioner Leigh Tesar and two Tampa Bay-area nurses, Walter Presha Jr. and Koby Evans, have been indicted in a Medicare fraud scheme involving over $118 million in wound care billing.
- The defendants face charges of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and conspiracy to pay and receive healthcare kickbacks, with additional charges against Tesar for healthcare fraud and kickback payments.
- Prosecutors allege the scheme involved billing Medicare for unnecessary and expensive wound allografts, some of which were never used or applied improperly, targeting vulnerable patients including the terminally ill.
- Medicare was billed more than $118 million over 18 months for services that were allegedly unnecessary, ineligible, or obtained through kickbacks, with approximately $61 million paid out by Medicare.
- Authorities have seized about $11.8 million in assets linked to the case as part of the 2026 National Health Care Fraud Takedown.
