Published: 2009-05-22 15:03:48
Author: Paula Reed Ward | Pittsburgh Post Gazette | April 17, 2009
A woman who once worked for a Lower Burrell chiropractor and helped submit millions of dollars in false bills was sentenced to two years in prison this afternoon.
Kendra Huddleston of North Carolina sobbed loudly and dropped down onto the lectern before the judge as he pronounced sentence. She cried throughout his litany of conditions and instructions.
Earlier, in asking for leniency, Ms. Huddleston asked the judge to consider her 6-year-old boy when he handed down his sentence.
"Life is about choices," she told U.S. District Judge Gary L. Lancaster, "and I made some poor choices."
Ms. Huddleston worked for chiropractor Douglas Henderson from 1993 to 2003. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney James Y. Garrett, Ms. Huddleston began submitting the false bills to Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield in 1996.
She told the judge she handled billing for Mr. Henderson and asked him about checks that he was writing back to his patients. She learned that the checks were kickbacks for allowing the practice to submit false bills in those patients' names. Mr. Henderson then invited her into the scheme, as well.