Date: October 13, 2023Contact: newsroom@ci.irs.gov CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A special agent from the IRS Criminal Investigation's Charlotte Field Office received an "Excellence in the Pursuit of Justice" award in the Outstanding Case category from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of North Carolina during a formal ceremony Thursday. Special Agent Nicholas Pompei, from the Charlotte Group, received recognition for his role with the investigative team in a series of cases: U.S. v. Graves; U.S. v. Pair; U.S. v. Harris; U.S. v. Jordan; and U.S. v. Booker. These cases were part of a large health care fraud investigation worked jointly with the FBI and North Carolina Dept of Justice Medicaid Investigations Division involving medically unnecessary urine testing claims defrauding Medicaid of millions of dollars. "We all had a part to play during the investigation," said Pompei, who began his 23-year career with CI in July 2000. "It was the hard work and collaborative effort of the USAO, and other federal and state agencies that led to bringing these cases to justice." The annual award ceremony, hosted this year by U.S. Attorney Dena J. King, recognizes federal, state, local and Tribal law enforcement, community partners, and citizens for their significant contributions to the mission of the Department of Justice, and for their commitment to protecting the people of the Western District of North Carolina. "It is an honor to recognize the remarkable men and women in law enforcement for going above and beyond the call of duty to protect our communities and to hold wrongdoers accountable for their actions," said U.S. Attorney King. "A career in law enforcement is not for the faint of heart. Those who wear the badge understand what it means to live a life of service, despite the significant dangers and challenges that come with the job." The related cases involved Markuetric Stringfellow, Donald Booker, Richard Graves, Delores Jordan, Glenn Pair, and Bree'Anna Harris. The team's investigation began with an after-school program with an alleged mission of providing motivation and empowerment activities to at-risk teenagers at several schools in Mecklenburg County, N.C. To execute the scheme, the co-conspirators recruited teenage Medicaid beneficiaries to be part of their after-school program. During the enrollment process, the teens were required to submit urine specimens for drug testing. Stringfellow and his co-conspirators colluded with certain laboratories to perform unnecessary drug testing of the urine specimens submitted by the teams and billed Medicaid for the expenses. In return, they received kickbacks after the laboratories were reimbursed by the North Carolina Medicaid. Additionally, the team investigated another illegal kickback scheme defrauding the N.C. Medicaid of more than $11 million. This investigation centered on Delores Jordan, who recruited housing-vulnerable Medicaid-eligible beneficiaries through a housing program in Charlotte and Greensboro, N.C. called Legacy Housing. Jordan perpetrated the fraud by conspiring with Donald Booker and Richard Graves, who owned and operated United Diagnostic Laboratories, a urine drug testing laboratory that paid all the kickbacks. Due to the efforts made by the agents during the investigative phase, the evidence at trial was overwhelming. All plead guilty except Booker, the ringleader of the operation. He went to trial and represented himself pro se in January 2023 and was found guilty on all counts. Booker was sentenced Sept. 26 to 200 months in prison. Other case sentencings: Stringfellow, 60 months; Graves, 30 months; Pair, 70 months; Jordan, 30 months; and Harris is awaiting sentencing. The FBI's Special Agent Mike Dixon and Special Agent John Carrothers also received the award for their investigative efforts on the team. CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a more than a 90 percent federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 12 attaché posts abroad. The CI Charlotte Field Office is committed to protecting North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee taxpayers.
