A former Kentucky state representative and gubernatorial candidate has been sentenced to federal prison for bilking federal healthcare insurance programs out of millions of dollars.
Robert Goforth, 46, of East Bernstadt, was sentenced on Monday to 25 months in prison after pleading guilty to billing Medicare and Medicaid and other insurance programs for prescriptions customers failed to pick up at a Clay County pharmacy he owned.
The medication was placed back into inventory and resold.
In his plea agreement, Goforth admitted to overbilling insurance providers $2.7 million at the Manchester pharmacy. Nearly $1.4 million of the overbilling occurred after he was informed by a state pharmacy inspector that overbilling was taking place.
“I knew that it was wrong and I’m here to own up to that and take responsibility for my actions,” Goforth said when pleading guilty to the charges in May in U.S. District Court in London.
He faced up to 20 years in prison. Goforth sold the business, Hometown Pharmacy, in 2016.
In that case, he was indicted for first-degree strangulation, fourth-degree assault (domestic violence) and third-degree terroristic threatening. The strangulation charge was dropped as part of a plea deal. He was sentenced in state court to 59 days in jail to run concurrently with his federal prison sentence.
Goforth was first elected to the Kentucky House in 2018. He ran unsuccessfully in the gubernatorial primary against then-incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin in 2019.
The Lexington Herald-Leader first reported Goforth’s federal prison sentence.
By Ken Howlett, News Director
Contact Ken at ken@k105.com
