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Darla Byus, the founder of a drug and alcohol outpatient treatment clinic in Prineville, has been charged with defrauding the Oregon Health Authority Medicaid program of $1.5 million.
Byus “used the stolen identities of at least 45 victims to make numerous fraudulent health care-related claims,” according to the charging document filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in Eugene by federal prosecutors. The names of some of the victims were taken from online jail rosters.
Byus used her access to the Medicaid program’s computer systems to steal other personal information, such as insurance identification numbers, needed to file the fraudulent claims, prosecutors say. In at least one case, prosecutors say, Byus filed more than $63,000 in claims for a person who had no idea her program existed.
The scheme began in January 2019 and continued through most of 2021. The proceeds were then funneled into the purchase of four properties in Prineville and John Day, as well as “gambling activities.” She’s also accused of falsifying tax returns.
When reached for comment on the allegations by phone, Byus declined.
During the course of the alleged scheme, Choices Recovery Services was selected to receive money allocated through Measure 110, which redirected over $100 million of annual marijuana tax revenue to fund new drug treatment services.
Choices Recovery Services was slated to receive $285,250 of those funds as part of an early “access to care” grant in 2021. The money was meant to be used to provide “peer” and “harm reduction” services, according to a letter sent to legislators by the Oregon Health Justice Recovery Alliance that September.
The money was never paid, however, “due to the federal proceedings,” an OHA spokesperson says.
Byus, a military veteran and certified alcohol and drug counselor, founded Choice Recovery Services in 2010, according to a profile published in the Central Oregonian in 2020. “At first, we just did DUIIs, then we started doing day treatment and all the kinds of treatments in between,” an employee told the reporter.