Hephzibah woman charged during National Health Care Fraud Takedown

SOUTH CAROLINA (WJBF) – One Hephzibah woman has been charged in an incident involving two South Carolina cases that are among hundreds of criminal charges against defendants in connection with alleged health care fraud.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice District of South Carolina’s Office, the charges that were filed in the federal court are part of the Department of Justice’s 2025 National Health Care Fraud Takedown, which authorities state is the largest DOJ health care fraud takedown in history.

According to the USDOJ, Dee Alice Moton, 51, of Hephzibah, Georgia, was charged by indictment with health care fraud in connection with a scheme where Moton billed the Veterans Administration for services not rendered to veterans in the amount of around $2.3 million over a two-year period.

Authorities state Moton, who has been identified to be a licensed massage therapist, owned and operated a massage therapy business in Aiken, South Carolina called Flowing Hands Massage Clinical Therapy, and as alleged in the indictment, Moton consistently billed veterans for services that were not rendered, such as multiple mutually exclusive evaluation and management codes, telehealth codes when in-person services were rendered, and specialized services she was not authorized to render or treatments for ailments veterans did not have or could not have received, for example, wheelchair therapy for a veteran who does not use a wheelchair.

The USDOJ also cites that Tina Marie Armstrong, 67, of Florence, South Carolina, was charged by superseding indictment with health care fraud and aggravated identity theft in connection with a scheme to submit false and fraudulent claims to Medicare and Medicaid for durable medical equipment that was no longer in service, never delivered, or that had not been authorized by a physician, and as alleged in the superseding indictment, Armstrong, through her company Safe at Home Medical Equipment and Supplies, LLC, submitted over $198,000 in false and fraudulent claims, of which only around $104,000 was paid.

According to the USDOJ, the charges announced today are part of a strategically coordinated, nationwide law enforcement action that resulted in criminal charges against 324 defendants for their alleged participation in health care fraud and illegal drug diversion schemes that involved the submission of over $14.6 billion in alleged false billings and over 15 million pills of illegally diverted controlled substances, and the defendants allegedly defrauded programs entrusted for the care of the elderly and disabled to line their own pockets, and the Government, in connection with the takedown, seized over $245 million in cash, luxury vehicles, and other assets.