The state's account of how the practice was run after its founder's death leaves gaps. Lopez took sole control of JLA after his sister, Joyce Lopez, died in 2021, according to the Attorney General's office. The state's release says the practice once provided psychological counseling to Medicaid beneficiaries, but it does not say when that stopped or how the billing continued afterward. Reporting states the psychiatrist whose identity was used did not provide psychotherapy to any JLA patients, but the release does not say whether the psychiatrist has been or will be contacted about the misuse of his credentials. The indictment, returned September 3, 2025, also charged theft by deception and additional tax counts. The plea and sentence did not include those charges, and the reasons for the narrower resolution are not in the public release.
For attorneys, the case points to three areas of exposure. First, billing under another clinician's enrollment is treated as a serious Medicaid crime even when the clinician never saw the patients. Second, practices that outlive their owners need clear control and credentialing procedures, because the state treated the transition period as part of the scheme. Third, the tax counts show that prosecutors will pursue income-reporting violations alongside health care fraud, so providers facing a fraud inquiry should expect a review of their tax filings as well as their claims data.