The U.S. Department of Justice announced that two West Covina women were arrested Tuesday for an alleged scheme to defraud Medicare of $4.8 million with false hospice care claims.

One of the women who was arrested is the owner and operator of two West Covina hospices, Golden Meadows Hospice Inc., and D'Alexandria Hospice Inc., which billed Medicare for hospice services for patients who were allegedly not terminally ill.

Between Sept. 2018 and Oct. 2022, owner and operator Normita Sierra, 71, and her alleged accomplice, Rowena Elegado, 55, collected more than $3.8 million from Medicare on false claims, the DOJ said.

Sierra, of West Covina, is charged with nine counts of healthcare fraud, one count of conspiracy, and four counts of illegal remuneration for healthcare referrals. Elegado, a

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