6 December 29, 2022–January 4, 2023 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER Classified | MusiC | dish | Culture | unfair Park | Contents Month XX–Month XX, 2014 dallasobserver.com DALLAS OBSERVER | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC | DISH | MOVIES | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | SCHUTZE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS | “This is the first point before going to where they have family or where their court date is to continue the legal immi- gration process. It’s a quick operation where we process them by providing hos- pitality and travel assistance. We help them book tickets, we provide some food and clothing and we also share our com- passion with them, our humanity with them for a few hours.” Muscatwalla says that as difficult and chaotic as it might seem to coordinate so many details for so many migrants on a weekly basis, it continues to be an orderly process. Multiple established non-govern- ment organizations are involved, and com- munication with immigration and border authorities in El Paso has been “very orga- nized,” she says. Most people who come through Dallas for this type of migrant processing have been in a detention center for about 15 days, though many have been there even longer. Many are not looking to end up in North Texas, so when they get to Dallas, they’re usually only one step closer to getting where they need to be. Their new lives are still waiting for them somewhere else, some- where farther from the home and family they left behind. A couple of buses with only 20 per trip will not be the case once Title 42 is lifted, Muscatwalla suggests. When the govern- ment’s ability to easily expel migrants from the United States is hindered, it’s safe to envision that Muscatwalla and those she works with will be much busier, but she’s ready for that. She has a unique perspective that she leans on in order to stay prepared. “Compassion is what we need to show them,” she says of the migrants she’ll assist. “They’re just like us, they dream like us, they have the same aspirations as us. I am an immigrant myself, so I am not any differ- ent than them, it’s just our current situa- tions are different. I came here in 1998 with my two young children to improve their quality life, which is all these migrants want to do.” ▼ CRIME BAD SIDE EFFECT NORTH TEXAS PAIR RAN A $7 MILLION COVID-19 TESTING SCHEME, U.S. ATTORNEY SAYS. BY KELLY DEARMORE A pair of North Texas residents pleaded not guilty on Dec. 16 to charges they defrauded insurers of more than $7 million via fake COVID-19 tests. A statement released by the U.S. at- torney for the Northern District of Texas, Leigha Simonton, claims that Terrance Barnard, 39, and Connie Jo Clampitt, 51, submitted false testing claims to Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas, Cigna, United Healthcare, Aetna, Humana and Molina Healthcare. The government alleges that Barnard and Clampitt spotted an opportunity amidst medical and financial chaos and seized it to enrich themselves with millions of dollars over the course of 13 months. “Mr. Barnard allegedly used his position as a contract lab technician at various medical clinics to surreptitiously obtain patient names, addresses, dates of birth and insurance sub- scriber information,” the statement reads. “He and Ms. Clampitt then allegedly represented to the patients’ insurers that they had CO- VID-19 testing performed at sophisticated di- agnostic laboratories, when no such testing was performed and no such labs existed.” Before the pair’s arrest on Thursday, Dec. 15, Barnard and Clampitt were indicted on Dec. 5 on one count each of conspiracy to commit healthcare fraud, 10 counts each of healthcare fraud, seven counts each of ag- gravated identity theft and one count each of conspiracy to commit money laundering. The indictment alleges that Barnard and Clampitt submitted the fraudulent claims between March 2021 and April 2022 through a number of fictitious labs pur- ported to be test providers throughout Texas, including several in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. “It was part of the scheme and artifice to defraud that Barnard and Clampitt created entities to make it appear that COVID-19 testing was performed by sophisticated di- agnostic laboratories, when in truth and fact, the laboratories as explained, did not exist,” the indictments states. The money Barnard and Clampitt re- ceived for the false claims, it is alleged, was deposited into bank accounts set up for each of the nonexistent clinics. From there, the money made its way into the personal ac- counts of the defendants, who used it to “purchase real estate and luxury vehicles,” according to the statement. Barnard’s attorney, Brandon McCarthy, has had a chance to review some of the evi- dence and says this sort of trial tends to take a long time. “With healthcare trials, there’s a lot of data, a lot of information to get through unlike many criminal trials,” he says. “The COVID-19 pandemic has presented the most challenging circumstances our healthcare providers and insurers have faced in generations,” Simonton said in the statement. “Schemes to financially exploit the system when providers and insurers are facing these monumental challenges must be dismantled, and those responsible must be held to account.” COVID-19-related schemes in the United States have now totaled in the billions of dol- lars. Much of that has been through bogus unemployment benefits claims and the Pay- check Protection Program, although health- care-related fraud has certainly made its mark. In May 2021 the Department of Jus- tice formed the COVID-19 Fraud Enforce- ment Task Force, and in April 2022 DOJ said it had charged more than 4,000 defendants with more than $19 billion in fraud related to COVID-19 testing and healthcare. The U.S. attorney says that over the course of its investigation of Barnard and Clampitt, law enforcement seized $1.5 mil- lion. If convicted, the pair will be required to forfeit any proceeds or property traceable to the crimes and will face up to 10 years in fed- eral prison for each count of healthcare fraud, conspiracy to commit health care fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, and up to two years in federal prison for each count of aggravated identity theft. ▼ GUNS, GUNS, GUNS DOWN ON ARMS SOME DALLAS COUNTY SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS AREN’T READY TO START BRINGING GUNS INTO THE CLASSROOM. BY KELLY DEARMORE S ince 2007, school districts across Texas have been adopting the “guardian plan,” a rule that allows se- lect faculty to carry guns on campus in the hopes that teachers can defend their stu- dents in the event of a school shooting. Many rural districts in Texas have adopted the plan over the years, but now, nearly seven months after 21 people were mur- dered at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, the call for “guardians” is arguably attracting more attention from school administrators than ever before. Recently, Keller school trustees voted 4-3 in favor of allowing its school faculty to be armed on campus. Specific details and guidelines for the Keller district have yet to be determined, although a few key points have been recognized, specifically that the program would be voluntary for teachers. For now, the guardian program is not widespread across North Texas, but the close vote in Keller as well as the impas- sioned comments from parents in the dis- trict on both sides of the topic suggests that it will continue to be contentiously debated any time it comes up. In Dallas County, districts and teachers continue to monitor the discussion around allowing faculty to be armed in the class- room but aren’t yet ready to go all-in on the guardian plan. In many cases, there are al- ready personnel in place to handle incidents of violence. Dallas Independent School District employs its own police officers, who do carry weapons, as well as unarmed “school resource officers,” sworn law enforcement officers with arrest powers. Before the start of the 2022 school Since the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, the “guardian plan” to arm teachers has picked up momentum. Alex Wong/Getty Images Unfair Park from p4 Two people from North Texas have been charged with running a COVID-19 testing scam netting millions of dollars. Wiki Commons >> p8
