Attorney Prim F. Escalona | U.S. Department of Justice
A former family practice doctor in Huntsville, Alabama, Francene Aretha Gayle, and her wife, Schara Monique Davis, were sentenced for drug crimes, health care fraud, and COVID-19 disaster relief fraud. The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Prim F. Escalona alongside FBI Special Agent in Charge Carlton Peeples, DEA Special Agent in Charge Steven L. Hofer, and Special Agent in Charge Tamela Miles of the Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector General Atlanta Region.
Judge Liles C. Burke sentenced Gayle to 87 months in prison on charges including opioid prescribing violations, health care fraud, and wire fraud. Davis received a 42-month sentence for health care fraud and wire fraud. Both were ordered to pay $2.2 million in restitution, forfeit $226,815, and pay a fine.
According to plea agreements from the defendants, between 2014 and early 2020, Gayle operated a multi-clinic practice across Huntsville, Athens, and Killen while Davis owned the practice and managed its business operations. The Killen clinic closed in 2019 following the revocation of Gayle's medical license by the Alabama Medical Licensure Commission in March 2020; the remaining clinics closed shortly thereafter.
Gayle admitted to unlawfully distributing drugs such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone. Both Gayle and Davis confessed to conspiring to commit health care fraud by billing insurers for office visits under Gayle’s name even when she was not present at the clinics or sometimes not even in town. Despite an audit by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama flagging these issues in 2015 with promises from Gayle that it would cease, fraudulent billing continued until 2020 with Medicare, Medicaid, and Blue Cross paying over $2.3 million during this period.
Additionally, both admitted to wire fraud conspiracy related to obtaining over $450,000 through COVID-19 relief funds via the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) program after their practice had already closed.
The investigation was conducted by the FBI, DEA, HHS-OIG with significant assistance from the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Alabama Attorney General’s Office following a referral from Alabama Medicaid Agency’s Program Integrity Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys J.B. Ward and Ryan Rummage prosecuted the case.
