The owner of three medical debt collection agencies has been sentenced to four years in federal prison for embezzling $800,000 from her clients.
Rebecca Pargeon owned Pargeon Medical Services, Kids First Pediatric Billing and Surgical Billing Solutions, which were all based in Springfield, Missouri. She pleaded guilty to charges of wire fraud and filing a false tax return for not reporting the income she stole from her clients.
During a four-year period between 2012 and 2016, Pargeon took debts she had collected and deposited them into her business and person bank accounts, rather than deposit them into the accounts of her clients. All told, she deposited nearly 750 checks into her own accounts.
Pargeon was facing a sentence of up to 23 years in prison. She was also ordered to repay nearly $950,000 to her clients, which included medical practices and healthcare facilities across the country.