Man Tied to V.I. Dept. of Education Tablet Deal Pleads Guilty in $8.4M Medicare Fraud Case

Last January, a company named Heritage Wireless took the spotlight after partnering with the Department of Education in a deal to provide free tablets to school students under the now-defunct Affordable Connectivity Program.

The criminal history of Heritage Wireless’ founder Corey Alston, who went by the name Bobbi at the time, immediately became the subject of intense interest, prompting questions about the level of vetting the Department of Education performed before announcing the deal.

Former Senator Donna Frett-Gregory, who was singled out for praise by the Department for her role in introducing Mr. Alston and his company to the territory, strongly defended her decision after details of Mr. Alston's long history of theft, fraud, and corruption allegations came to the fore.

Now, Mr. Alston has pleaded guilty to charges of fraud and conspiracy stemming from an April 2023 case involving Heritage Pharma Group, a company in which he served as Chief Administrative Officer.

As reported by the Consortium last year, Mr. Alston was accused, along with an emergency room physician in Marion County, Florida, of running a Covid-19 testing scam. The pair reportedly submitted false reimbursement claims to Medicaid for over-the-counter Covid tests, using purchased lists of Medicaid beneficiary information to ship the tests to the addresses of the beneficiaries whether or not they had requested or needed the tests. With this scheme, the pair reportedly submitted more than $8.4 million worth of fraudulent claims to Medicare – with more than $2.6 million of that sum actually paid out.

The majority of those ill-gotten gains were taken by Mr. Alston, while his co-conspirator reportedly retained a portion of the funds for her role in the scheme.