A Westford, Massachusetts woman was sentenced to 12 years in prison after being convicted of a $100 million home health care fraud.

Faith Newton, former operator of Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based Arbor Homecare Services LLC, was sentenced in federal court to 12 years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release. She was also ordered to pay a fine of $250,000 and restitution of more than $99.7 million.

In July 2024, Newton was convicted of one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, one count of health care fraud and three counts of money laundering. The jury found the defendant not guilty on one count of money laundering conspiracy. Newton was arrested and charged along with co-defendant Winnie Waruru in February 2021.

“Faith Newton betrayed the trust of her patients and their families when she used them as pawns in a massive $100 million home health care fraud scheme to fund her lavish lifestyle by paying kickbacks and billing for services she never provided, treatments that were not medically necessary and visits by sham home health aides who were not certified or trained,” Jodi Cohen, special agent in charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Boston Division, said in a statement. “It’s clear that the guiding principle was greed. Anyone involved in, or entertaining, similar activity should know that health care fraud is a priority for the FBI and we will pursue anyone trying to steal from this country’s vital health care system.”

From January 2013 to January 2017, Newton operated Chelmsford, Massachusetts-based Arbor Homecare Services. During that time, she and others conspired to use Arbor to defraud MassHealth of at least $100 million.

Specifically, Arbor, through Newton and others, billed for home health services that were never provided. Newton instructed co-conspirators to create and submit falsified notes from nursing visits that did not happen.

In addition, Arbor, through Newton and others, paid kickbacks for patient referrals, regardless of medical necessity. They also entered sham employment relationships with patients’ family members to provide home health aide services that were not medically necessary and routinely billed for fictitious visits that Newton knew did not occur.

At Newton’s direction, Arbor submitted false claims to MassHealth for services provided by home health aides who were not trained and certified as required by law. Newton covered up the lack of training by forging documents and giving hiring exams along with answer keys.

In 2017, after learning that Mass Health had cut off Arbor, Newton wrote herself and her husband $2 million checks from the Arbor payroll account. Newton backdated the checks to 2016 to make them appear as Christmas bonuses when she wrote and negotiated them in January 2017.

Newton’s co-defendant, Waruru, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud; one count of health care fraud – aiding and abetting; one count of conspiracy to pay and receive kickbacks; two counts of making false statements and one count of making a false statement in a health care matter. A sentencing date for Waruru has not yet been scheduled.