Date: March 27, 2025
Contact: [email protected]
Greeneville, TN — On March 26, 2024, Monika D. Schorer of Jonesborough, Tennessee, and Teresa Schorer of Jonesborough, Tennessee, entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud before the Honorable Clifton L. Corker, United States District Judge in the United States District Court at Greeneville.
Each defendant faces a term of up to 20 years in Federal prison, $250,000 in fines, and supervised release of three years. Under their written plea agreements, each defendant has agreed to pay restitution in the amount of $213,154.50 for a combined total of $426,309. Sentencing for Monika Schorer has been set for July 23, 2025, at 10:00 a.m. and sentencing for Teresa Schorer’s has been set for July 23, 2025, at 11:00 a.m., both before Judge Corker in the United States District Court at Greeneville.
According to their plea agreements, which have been filed with the court, each woman worked for the James H. Quillen VA Medical Center in Mountain Home, Tennessee, and each accepted cash bribe payments from individuals who worked as a surgical sales representative for an independent distributor of a nationwide orthopedic company that manufactured replacement joints and products used during surgeries in which those joints were implanted. The sales representatives routinely sold products to the VA Medical Center where the women worked. According to the filed plea agreements, the sales representatives (who have previously entered guilty pleas) formed a separate company in June 2018 and began selling their own acquired inventory to the VA at inflated prices or when not medically necessary, resulting in losses to the VA. By their written plea agreements, each defendant agreed that they conspired and accepted cash bribe payments from the sales representatives of $9,900 each in September 2018 and $7,000 each in October 2018 for their agreement to commit, collude, and aid in the fraud against the VA.
U.S. Attorney Francis M. “Trey” Hamilton III of the Eastern District of Tennessee; Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent-in-Charge, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI); Nate Landkammer, Special Agent-in-Charge, Mid Atlantic Field Office, VA Office of the Inspector General; and Elisa Pellegrini, Special Agent-in-Charge, General Services Administration (GSA) Office of the Inspector General, Mid-Atlantic Division, made the announcement.
This prosecution is the result of an investigation by the IRS-CI, VA Office of the Inspector General, and GSA Office of the Inspector General.
Assistant United States Attorneys Mac D. Heavener, III, and Ryan Blackwell, represent the United States.
IRS-CI is the criminal investigative arm of the IRS, responsible for conducting financial crime investigations, including tax fraud, narcotics trafficking, money-laundering, public corruption, healthcare fraud, identity theft and more. IRS-CI special agents are the only federal law enforcement agents with investigative jurisdiction over violations of the Internal Revenue Code, obtaining a 90% federal conviction rate. The agency has 20 field offices located across the U.S. and 14 attaché posts abroad.