Feds: Nursing homes used patient-care money to buy luxury cars, $1.3M home
April 16, 2010 --
Managers of three nursing homes in Rome and Brunswick conspired to rip off Medicaid and Medicare for $30 million intended for patient care, federal prosecutors said today. Continuing food shortages were so severe that employees used their own money to buy groceries so patients could eat, investigators said. George and Rhonda Houser, the couple that ran the homes, allegedly diverted cash to buy Mercedes-Benz cars for themselves and a $1.3 home in Atlanta for Houser’s ex-wife. The homes were ordered closed in 2007.