Therapist found guilty of defrauding military families

A federal jury found the owner and operator of a business that provides speech language therapy primarily to children of military service members guilty Thursday of multiple counts of wire fraud, identity theft and lying to receive payment of services that were never provided.

Sheila Harris, 53, owner and operator of Harris Therapy Inc., faces maximum 20-year prison terms for each of 11 counts of wire fraud at sentencing in August and maximum five-year prison terms for each of three counts of making false statements relating to health care matters.

She also faces mandatory two-year prison terms for each of two counts of aggravated identity theft that must run separately from the sentences for the other crimes.

The government is asking the court to order Harris to forfeit property to repay TRICARE, the military health care program, money she and her business fraudulently collected. It is also seeking separate civil penalties.

After hearing the jury’s verdicts, U.S. District Senior Judge Helen Gillmor ordered Harris taken into custody.

Harris is licensed to provide physical therapy services and did so through her business. Harris Therapy also employs other licensed professionals at its Kapiolani Boulevard and Aiea clinics to provide physical, occupational, massage and speech language therapy.

The jury found Harris guilty of charging TRICARE for speech language therapy when her speech language therapist was on maternity leave, and of assuming the identities of the speech language therapist and her patients to make the false claims. The jurors also found Harris guilty of charging for consecutive days of therapy for service that was provided for only one.