Two Winston-Salem residents have been sentenced to prison for their participation in a conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

Shawn Thorpe, 30, was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment and ordered to pay a restitution of $211,311.20. Ruben McLain, 46, was sentenced to four years’ imprisonment and to pay $1,159,050.51.

The pair pleaded guilty to the crimes this past October.

According to court documents, Thorpe and McLain worked together to create and manage Coastal Bay, a company that provided medical care to Medicaid patients. McLain had been excluded from billing federal healt hcare programs based on his 2011 conviction for health care fraud.

Thorpe never disclosed to the Medicaid program that he was working with an individual who had been excluded from participating in the program. In an effort to conceal his involvement, McLain used the alias “Julian Winchester.”

He performed a variety of functions, including hiring and firing individuals, seeing patients, and performing other managerial tasks using the alias. McLain routinely traveled to Jacksonville from his home in North Carolina to assist in Coastal Bay’s operations.

McLain and his family received significant financial benefits because of his involvement in Coastal Bay. He had access to a Coastal Bay credit card that he used to make routine purchases at restaurants, furniture stores, gas stations, and other places in North Carolina, even though Coastal Bay had no operations in North Carolina.

In addition, he and his immediate family received more than $10,000 in direct payments from the Coastal Bay business account.

More information about the case can be found here.