Feds sue Fort Collins home care agency over alleged VA bribe scheme

FORT COLLINS — Two Fort Collins residents are due to plead guilty to federal bribery charges next year in connection with a multi-million dollar kickback scheme within the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

In its complaint filed Thursday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Colorado alleges that Glenn and Catherine Beach bribed former Veterans Affairs official Joseph Prince with $122,472 to steer spina bifida patients and beneficiaries to Fort Collins-based Gracewood Home Health Agency LLC for in-home care services.

Prince, who worked for the VA in Denver, was charged last year with 44 counts of bribery and money laundering. Federal agents allege that he referred patients to shell companies that he, his family and friends owned. Those companies allegedly overcharged the department for hourly care, pocketed the rest and gave a kickback to Prince. 

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The scheme is believed to have cost the VA about $18 million in overpayments, with $1.5 million of that going directly to Prince. He is due to go to trial next year, according to court filings.

The Beaches were released without bond and are due back in court for a guilty plea hearing on Jan. 9, 2020, according to court records. Federal bribery carries a penalty of two years in prison and a fine of at least $250,000.

Nathan Chambers, the attorney of record for Glenn Beach, did not respond to a request for comment Friday.