GREENSBORO, N.C. – Gwendolyn Singleton pled guilty today to health care fraud in connection with a scheme to fraudulently bill the North Carolina Medicaid program for over $1.7 million of urine drug tests that were not performed, announced Dan Bishop, United States Attorney for the Middle District of North Carolina and North Carolina Attorney General Jeff Jackson.According to court documents, Singleton, age 55, owned and operated a business called Joelle’s Center of Hope located in Greensboro, North Carolina. Joelle’s Center of Hope purported to provide substance abuse treatment, including urine drug tests. Between June 2021 and March of 2023, Joelle’s submitted approximately $1,735,865 worth of fraudulent urine drug testing claims directly to Medicaid. A nurse practitioner and a doctor were listed as the ordering providers on the claims. Both providers reported that they never ordered any urine drug tests for Joelle’s Center of Hope.Over the course of the scheme, Medicaid reimbursed Joelle’s Center of Hope over $1.7 million. Sentencing is scheduled to take place on October 22, 2026, at 9:30 a.m. in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, before United States District Judge Thomas D. Schroeder. At sentencing, Singleton faces a maximum sentence of ten years in prison, a period of supervised release of up to three years, and monetary penalties. The Department of Health and Human Services–Office of Inspector General, North Carolina Attorney General’s Office-Medicaid Investigations Division, and the United States Postal Inspection Service are investigating. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Ashley Waid and Eric Iverson and Special Assistant United States Attorney Daniel Spillman.###
Source: U.S. Department of Justice