West Monroe man pleads guilty to $3.8M durable medical equipment fraud scheme, faces 10 years in prison

WEST MONROE, La. (KTVE/KARD) — On Thursday, June 5, 2025, the United States Department of Justice announced that 62-year-old Michael L. Riggins of West Monroe, La., pleaded guilty in connection with a five-year scheme to submit millions of dollars in fraudulent claims to Medicare for expensive and medically unnecessary medical equipment. According to court documents, Riggins was the owner of Bluewater Healthcare (Bluewater), a durable medical equipment (DME) supply company in West Monroe.

From 2018 to 2023, Riggins paid for doctors’ orders for medically unnecessary DME and tricked doctors into signing DME orders and certificates of medical necessity in order to bill for it. Despite receiving hundreds of complaints regarding the fraudulent orders, Riggins submitted over $3.8 million in fraudulent claims to Medicare for supplying the DME and was reimbursed over $1.8 million.

Riggins is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 2 and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. A federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.