HCN Home Healthcare Owners Estrellita and Miguel Duquilla Sentenced in Medicare Kickback Scheme

Case from 2015–2018 (U.S. Attorney's Office latest release: Aug. 27, 2015; later developments are from court records and other sources cited below). Published on Scammers.com Oct. 16, 2026; case status is current as of that date.

The husband-and-wife owners of HCN Home Healthcare Inc. in Chicago, Estrellita and Miguel Duquilla, were indicted in August 2015 with five others on charges that they paid kickbacks for Medicare patient referrals and falsified records to bill for unneeded or nonexistent home care, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois announced [1]. Prosecutors alleged Medicare overpaid HCN by more than $6 million.

Outcome: All seven defendants pleaded guilty to a single count, and other counts were dismissed, according to judgments on the court docket [2]. Estrellita Duquilla was sentenced to 24 months in prison and Miguel Duquilla to 15 months; the other five received sentences ranging from probation to one day in custody, deemed served.

How the scheme worked

According to the 2015 indictment as summarized by prosecutors [1]:

1. Paying for patients: HCN, through its owners, paid kickbacks to employees and outside marketers for referring elderly and disabled Medicare beneficiaries.
2. Cash to patients: In some cases employees and marketers paid patients cash to let their information be used in Medicare paperwork.
3. Doctored files: HCN employees altered nursing reports and patient files so patients appeared to qualify for in-home care. Many beneficiaries didn't qualify, and some never needed or received care.
4. Timeframe: The indictment said the scheme ran from 2008 to 2012. HCN was located at 6288 N. Cicero Ave. in Chicago.

The people charged and outcomes

Sentences below come from judgments entered on the court docket in 2018 before U.S. District Judge Sara L. Ellis [2]. Ages are as of the 2015 indictment [1].

• Estrellita Duquilla, 58, Des Plaines — co-owner. Pleaded guilty to one count; sentenced in 2018 to 24 months in prison (judgment Oct. 2, 2018).
• Miguel Duquilla, 60, Des Plaines — co-owner. Pleaded guilty to one count; sentenced to 15 months in prison (judgment Nov. 14, 2018).
• Zenaida Dimailig, 78, Bensenville — registered nurse accused of taking kickbacks to steer patients. Pleaded guilty in January 2017; sentenced to one day, time served, and two years of supervised release.
• Roberto Jonson, 58, Bensenville — owner of Berzen Home Care Services and Dimailig's husband, accused of being paid for referrals. Pleaded guilty; sentenced to one day, time served, and two years of supervised release.
• Daniel Fajardo, 45, Chicago — HCN director of nursing. Pleaded guilty in January 2018; sentenced to one day, time considered served.
• Grace Mendez, 59, Des Plaines — quality assurance nurse accused of putting false visit dates in files. Pleaded guilty; sentenced to two years of probation.
• Sherrod Harris, 49, Chicago — nursing assistant. Pleaded guilty; sentenced to three years of probation.

Dimailig was also separately charged by complaint in June 2015 with health care fraud, in a case announced with that month's national Medicare fraud takedown [3].

Red flags

• Someone offers you cash to use your Medicare number.
• A home-health nurse visits even though you can leave the house and your doctor didn't order care.
• Medicare statements showing nursing visits that never happened.

What to do if you're targeted

1. Check your Medicare Summary Notices or medicare.gov account for home-health episodes you didn't receive.
2. Report offers of cash or gifts for your Medicare information to HHS-OIG at oig.hhs.gov/fraud/report-fraud or 1-800-HHS-TIPS.

Case status (as of Oct. 16, 2026)

Defendant	Court	Status as of Oct. 16, 2026	Source
Estrellita Duquilla	N.D. Ill. (Judge Ellis), 15 CR 512	Pleaded guilty; sentenced 2018 to 24 months	[2]
Miguel Duquilla	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty; sentenced 2018 to 15 months	[2]
Zenaida Dimailig	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty Jan. 2017; sentenced 2018 to 1 day (time served), 2 years' supervised release	[2]
Roberto Jonson	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty; sentenced 2018 to 1 day (time served), 2 years' supervised release	[2]
Daniel Fajardo	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty Jan. 2018; sentenced 2018 to 1 day (time served)	[2]
Grace Mendez	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty; sentenced 2018 to 2 years' probation	[2]
Sherrod Harris	N.D. Ill.	Pleaded guilty; sentenced 2018 to 3 years' probation	[2]

The sentences were imposed in 2018; we have not found a source on any defendant's current custody status.

Sources

1. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "Owners And Nurses Of Chicago Home-Healthcare Company Among Seven Indicted In Medicare Fraud And Kickback Scheme," Aug. 27, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/owners-and-nurses-chicago-home-healthcare-company-among-seven-indicted-medicare-fraud
2. CourtListener, United States v. Duquilla, No. 1:15-cr-00512 (N.D. Ill.), docket and judgment entries. https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/8497465/united-states-v-duquilla/
3. U.S. Attorney's Office, Northern District of Illinois, "12 Charged In Chicago As Part Of Largest National Medicare Fraud Takedown In History," June 18, 2015. https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndil/pr/12-charged-chicago-part-largest-national-medicare-fraud-takedown-history

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