Agents with Attorney General Liz Murrill's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit arrested a Baton Rouge man for Medicaid Fraud recently.

38-year-old Johnny O’Neal Richardson, of Mobile Drive in Baton Rouge, surrendered himself at the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on Friday, July 18, 2025.

Richardson was arrested on 4 violations of LA RS 14:70.1 Medicaid Fraud, for billing for non-emergency transportation services for Medicaid beneficiaries who were either hospitalized or deceased.

In May of 2022, the DOJ Medicaid Fraud Control Unit received information from the Managed Care Organization AmeriHealth Caritas of Louisiana (ACLA), regarding the provider of Xpress Medical Transportation in Baton Rouge (Richardson) billing for trips that were not rendered.

According to the affidavit, MFCU Special Agents requested records pertaining to Medicaid services billed by and paid to Xpress from Richardson. The review revealed overlapping dates and times that Xpress submitted claims. 

The affidavit states that between 2021 and 2022, Richardson fraudulently billed on behalf of 4 separate Medicaid beneficiaries on “standing order trips.” These are re-occurring, pre-scheduled trips by the Member’s medical provider, covering a period of up to 12 months; therefore, a trip request was not required by the recipient, allowing Richardson to submit fraudulent trip reimbursement forms and receive payment for those claims, arrest records reveal.

The affidavit says that Xpress was paid $2,902.24 for transportation services that Xpress claimed occurred from December 2021, through June 2022, while the recipients were hospitalized. In addition, Xpress was paid $5,718.94 for transportation services purported to have occurred between February 2022 and May 2022 for 2 recipients after their date of death, according to multiple examples found in the affidavit.

Investigators believe that Richardson committed Medicaid fraud by submitting false and fraudulent claims for Medicaid services that were not rendered. Richadson was also billed for Medicaid transporting services for Medicaid recipients that were in the hospital and/or deceased, resulting in approximately $8,621.18 of false claims that were paid, according to arrest records.

On July 18, Richardson was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison after surrendering.

The investigation is ongoing. 

*All persons are presumed innocent until proven guilty.