Eight defendants — including three nurses, a chiropractor, and a psychologist — have been arrested on federal charges for allegedly defrauding the nation's health care system out of more than $50 million through sham hospice care facilities in the Los Angeles area.

Five of the cases involved hospice centers in Glendale, Artesia, Tarzana, and Simi Valley that allegedly billed Medicare for patients who were not terminally ill and did not qualify for hospice services.

Among those arrested was licensed vocational nurse Lolita Beronilla Minerd, 65, whose Topanga Hospice Care allegedly billed more than $9.17 million in fraudulent Medicare claims and had a live discharge rate nearly five times the national average.

Psychologist Gladwin Gill, 66, and his wife Amelou Gill, 70, allegedly operated St. Francis Palliative Care and fraudulently billed Medicare upwards of $5.2 million for services that were not medically necessary or never provided.

One defendant, Nita Almuete Paddit Palma, 76, is currently serving a 108-month federal prison sentence from a previous hospice fraud conviction involving $10.6 million in illegal kickbacks.

Credit: HHS Office of Inspector General