Associated Press - July 29, 2009 8:24 PM ET

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - The U.S. Justice Department says one person was arrested in Louisiana as part of a major Medicare fraud sweep Wednesday.

Spokeswoman Laura Sweeney says Darnell Denese Willis was arrested in Montgomery. That's a Grant Parish town about 36 miles northwest of Alexandria.

The indictment says Willis is 49 and from Harris County, Texas. She was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit health care fraud.

She allegedly worked as a patient recruiter, getting kickbacks to provide names and billing information to Onward Group Healthcare Inc. of Richmond, Texas, so the company could make false claims to Medicare. The indictment alleges that she conspired to submit about $2.2 million in false claims for power wheelchairs and other devices from October 2003 to March 2009.

Federal authorities arrested more than 30 suspects, including doctors, and were seeking others in a major Medicare fraud bust in New York, Louisiana, Boston and Houston, targeting scams such as "arthritis kits" - expensive braces that many patients never used.

More than 200 agents worked on the $16 million bust that included 12 search warrants at health care businesses and homes across the Houston area, where the bulk of the arrests were made.

Willis' initial court appearance is set for Thursday in federal court in Shreveport.

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