Irving man sentenced to 7 years in prison for $7M COVID scam

IRVING, Texas - An Irving man was sentenced to 7 years in prison for his part in a $7 million healthcare fraud scheme that involved fake COVID tests.

Terrance Barnard, 40, pleaded guilty in September 2023 to conspiracy to commit health care fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Barnard, a contract lab technician, and others took part in a scheme that involved accessing private patient information and submitting claims to insurance providers, including Blue Cross Blue Shield, Cigna, United Healthcare, Aetna, Humana, and Molina Health Care for COVID-19 tests that were never performed.

Barnard said he took photographs of patient information and saved the images on burner phones. On other occasions, he and another person accessed the clinics' confidential medical records to obtain patient information.

Barnard and his coconspirators used shell entities, including TC Diagnostics, ME Diagnostics, and PHR Diagnostics, which never actually operated as labs.

The entities submitted $30 million in claims and were paid $7 million in reimbursements for the fake tests.

"These defendants took advantage of unsuspecting patients – and a global pandemic – to steal millions of dollars from insurers using private patient information," said U.S. Attorney Leigha Simonton in a statement. "This sort of crime breaches patients’ trust and raises the cost of healthcare for all – at a time when access to medical care feels precarious to many."

In addition to the 7 years in prison, he was also ordered to pay more than $7 million in restitution.

As part of the plea agreement, Barnard agreed to forfeit almost $2.5 million from bank accounts tied to him and his family, properties, five vehicles and five luxury watches.

One coconspirator, William Paul Gray, was sentenced to 54 months in prison for conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud. Connie Jo Clamplitt will be sentenced on April 10 and Don Hogg's sentence will be handed down on May 1.