12 Plead Not Guilty To Medicare Fraud

BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Twelve people have pleaded innocent to charges involving Medicare fraud in Baton Rouge federal court.

The Advocate reports their pleas were entered Wednesday shortly after prosecutors announced they planned to use evidence from a separate alleged $4.2 million fraud case against five of the defendants.

Named defendants in both cases are Henry Lamont Jones and his former wife, Chikenna Jones, both of Zachary.

Also charged in both cases are Dr. Jo A. Francis, of Natchez, Miss., and Stephanie V. Dangerfield and Mary H. Griffin.

The first indictment was returned in July and accuses those five people and nine others of conspiring to fraudulently bill Medicare for $18.9 million.

The second case was filed under seal in February and targets the Joneses, Francis, Dangerfield, Griffin and Shedrick O. McKenzie.

(Information in the following story is from: The Advocate, http://www.2theadvocate.com)