Two Florida men were sentenced to two years in federal prison for operating a mail-order pharmacy scheme that billed Medicare for nearly $900,000 in unnecessary prescriptions.
Steven Anthony Churchill, 39, of Boca Raton, and Samson Kollelil Solomon, 28, of Pompano Beach, received 24-month prison sentences after pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit health care fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud. A third defendant, 46-year-old Fawn Lickteig of Lawrence, Kansas, pled guilty to the conspiracy charge and is scheduled to be sentenced November 10, 2026.
According to federal court filings, Churchill purchased Free State Pharmacy in Lawrence, Kansas, in March 2020 and registered it in the name of an accused co-conspirator who has since deceased. While the company claimed to be a regular retail counter, it actually operated a mail-order shipping service. Churchill recruited Lickteig’s firm, Pharmacy Consulting, to complete the pharmacy’s paperwork and enroll it in Medicare and other federal health programs.
From there, the company obtained patient information, such as names and addresses, from outside telemedicine providers. Workers then packaged and delivered prescriptions to people all around the country, despite the fact that the doctors who signed off on the orders had never personally examined the patients or scheduled legitimate telemedicine appointments for them.
The pharmacy habitually chose which orders to fill depending on what generated the biggest Medicare payout, with a heavy emphasis on pricey skin creams and dermatological goods. The unrequested items caused uncertainty among recipients, with some calling the pharmacy to inquire why they were receiving shipments and others shipping the medication directly back.
While the physical drugstore was in Kansas, the majority of the target demographic resided in Florida. Of the reported billings, 948 claims were sent out to Florida residents, compared to 381 to Kansas residents. Furthermore, 15 of the 40 doctors associated with the pharmacy’s prescriptions were already being investigated for ordering needless medical services.
Between September 2020 and February 2021, Churchill, Solomon, and Lickteig submitted 2,699 fraudulent claims. In total, the files caused Medicare to pay out $897,405 in fraudulent cash.
“Medicare exists to help senior citizens obtain the medical services and supplies they require,” stated US Attorney Ryan A. Kriegshauser. “Those who loot government programs for personal gain will pay a high price when brought to justice. The agency Inspectors General under this administration are working diligently to weed out this type of fraud, and the Department of Justice is ready to prosecute if it is discovered.”
The case is being handled by the Department of Justice’s National Fraud Enforcement Division, which was unveiled on April 7 as part of an initiative to combat fraud against government benefit programs in collaboration with the White House Task Force to Eliminate Fraud.
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