A Tucson man, Kevin Lamorris McKenzie, was sentenced to 14 years in prison, to be served concurrently with an additional 5-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud and Embezzlement from an Indian Tribal Organization.
As part of his sentence, McKenzie was ordered to pay $33,155,701 in restitution to ABHS. He was also ordered to forfeit various real estate properties; 2013 Rolls Royce; 1966 Ford Galaxie; 2018 Land Rover Range Rover; 2018 Utility Trailer; a 2021 Cadillac Escalade and $55,000 in U.S. currency. McKenzie also agreed to apply over $364,447 that had been seized in a related case toward the restitution judgment.
From 2015 through 2023, McKenzie, first as Chief Operating Officer and then as CEO of Apache Behavioral Health Services (ABHS), engaged in a scheme to defraud millions of dollars from ABHS and the White Mountain Apache Tribe. McKenzie used two contracts as a front to funnel money from ABHS to himself. Under the first contract, ABHS paid over $35 million to Helping Everyday Youth (HEDY). Thereafter, based on a secret agreement with McKenzie, HEDY funneled approximately $16 million in fraudulent proceeds to a shell company McKenzie controlled. McKenzie concealed this backdoor financial arrangement from ABHS. McKenzie conducted significant efforts to hide his scheme through financial transactions conducted through his shell company. He also attempted to corruptly persuade a witness to lie to investigators.
From 2018 through 2023, McKenzie, also as CEO for ABHS, entered phony referral contracts with his co-defendant Corina Martinez. These contracts were used to fraudulently funnel ABHS money through Evolved Health Care Inc. (EHI), a company controlled by Martinez. Under the contracts, EHI would refer qualified employees to ABHS in exchange for compensation. However, EHI never referred any employees to ABHS. Using the phony agreements, McKenzie caused ABHS to pay approximately $16.5 million to EHI. Portions of the fraudulent proceeds were split amongst McKenzie and Martinez. Martinez gave McKenzie large sums of cash, paid $800,000 of his personal credit card bills, and purchased other luxury items: including a $128,000 Rolls Royce Ghost and a $928,000 home for McKenzie’s family. EHI did not perform any services for ABHS.
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