LOS ANGELES – Federal authorities arrested two West Covina women today following a 14-count grand jury indictment that accuses them of orchestrating a $4.8 million Medicare fraud scheme involving medically unnecessary hospice services and illegal kickbacks.
Normita “Normie” Sierra, 71, owner and operator of Golden Meadows Hospice Inc. and D’Alexandria Hospice Inc., is charged with nine counts of health care fraud, one count of conspiracy, and four counts of paying illegal remunerations for health care referrals.
Rowena “Weng” Elegado, 55, also of West Covina, is charged with one count of conspiracy and four counts of illegal kickbacks for patient referrals.
Both women are scheduled for arraignment this afternoon at the United States District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
According to the indictment, between September 2018 and October 2022, Sierra submitted over $4.8 million in fraudulent Medicare claims for patients who were not terminally ill. Medicare paid over $3.8 million on those claims. The indictment also alleges Sierra and Elegado paid kickbacks to marketers—code-named “girl scout cookies”—to recruit patients who were not referred by primary care physicians. These payments reached up to $1,300 per patient per month.
Carl Bernardo, 53, of Chino, a marketer involved in the scheme, previously pleaded guilty in September 2024 to receiving kickbacks and awaits sentencing on October 23.
Relyndo Salcedo, 60, of Fontana, a nurse practitioner who conducted initial patient assessments, pleaded guilty on May 22 to one count of health care fraud and will be sentenced on November 20. Although many patients did not qualify for hospice care, Salcedo—under pressure from Sierra and marketers—falsified assessments to portray them as terminally ill. Hospice physicians then relied on these false records to approve enrollments.
Patients rarely died under hospice care and were often discharged around the six-month mark at Sierra’s direction—sometimes transferring to her home health company or her other hospice agency.
In total, Golden Meadows submitted approximately $3.87 million in fraudulent claims, with Medicare paying out $2.91 million. D’Alexandria submitted roughly $945,000, receiving $894,000 from Medicare.
Each health care fraud charge carries a statutory maximum of 10 years in federal prison. Sierra and Elegado also face up to 5 years for conspiracy and up to 10 years for each illegal kickback charge.
The FBI and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General investigated the case.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Kristen A. Williams of the Major Frauds Section is prosecuting.
