Three from Lawton charged with conspiracy to defraud government

OKLAHOMA CITY — Three Lawtonians have been charged in federal court with allegations they conspired to defraud the government of millions of dollars through a Lawton massage therapy office.

Amber Delger, Nathan Matthews and Jim Matthews have been indicted in the U.S. Western District Court with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud, according to court filings.

Multiple additional counts of health care fraud also have been filed against Nathan Matthews and Jim Matthews, records indicate.

According to the court filing, the three are accused of submitting multiple false and fraudulent claims to TRICARE, overseen and administered by the Defense Health Agency, an agency of the U.S. Department of Defense. The claims were filed through Emerald Lane Therapy Services, a massage therapy provider operating in Lawton since 2014.

The business is accused of billing for services rendered to beneficiaries on days those beneficiaries were traveling out of state as well as days when Emerald Lane was closed for holidays, bad weather or employee illnesses.

An example from the indictment included a post from the Emerald Lane Facebook page that it was closed for the Memorial Day holiday May 28-30, 2022, and yet they filed 33 claims as if services had been rendered.

Another example, the business was regularly closed on Wednesdays but would submit claims for services. Between January 2018 and December 2022, Emerald Lane submitted 3,707 claims for Wednesday services, according to the information.

In total, since January 2018, Emerald Lane billed TRICARE more than $7 million and received more than $2 million from the Defense Health Agency, the indictment states.

In a plea petition signed by Delger on June 17, she pleaded guilty, stating in the section regarding her reasons for making that agreement: “Because I am guilty of the count charged.”

At sentencing, Delger faces up to 10 years in prison and/or fine up to $250,000 as well as a special assessment of $100 and up to three years of supervised release.