A Flower Mound woman who allegedly absconded from the United States in order to avoid serving a 46-month prison sentence has been federally charged.
Florence Enerwim Onyegbu, 64, also known as Florence Oshiegbe, was charged via criminal complaint with failure to surrender for service of sentence. She made her initial appearance in federal court March 24.
According to court documents, on February 14, 2011, a federal judge sentenced Ms. Onyegbu to 46 months in federal prison for her role in a healthcare fraud scheme.
Ms. Onyegbu had pleaded guilty to one count of offer and payment of illegal remuneration. In plea papers, she had admitted that her home health company, De-Promise, paid kickbacks to induce Medicare beneficiaries to arrange for home health services, then billed Medicare for home health services that were not provided – knowing full well that the beneficiaries were not home-bound or confined to a hospital and did not need those services. She had admitted she submitted more than $1.8 million in fraudulent claims and received more than $1.3 million in fraudulently-obtained payments.
At her 2011 sentencing, the judge ordered Ms. Onyegbu to self-surrender to a Bureau of Prisons facility on Monday, April 14, 2011 before 11 a.m. Ms. Onyegbu allegedly failed to do so.
She was arrested in Lagos, Nigeria on February 22, 2022 by the Nigerian Economic and Financial Crimes Commission at the request of the United States. Following court proceedings in Nigeria, she was extradited to the United States and arrived in Texas on March 23.