The wife of a former Rome nursing home operator was sentenced to eight months home confinement and five years probation for her role in a health care fraud case. 

 

Rhonda Houser pleaded guilty to misprison of a felony in December. Judge Harold Murphy handed down the sentence in U.S. District Court in Rome on Friday afternoon.

 

Houser is the wife of George Houser, who was sentenced to 20 years in prison earlier this month for health care fraud and tax charges.

 

George Houser operated three nursing homes : Moran Lake and Mt. Berry in Rome and Wilwood in Brunswick. He claimed he and his wife were co-equals in using money from Medicaid and Medicare for real estate purchases and personal expenses, but prosecutors called George Houser "the mastermind" behind the scheme. 

 

In handing down his sentence, Murphy said, "I am convinced this defendant would not be here if she had not done the things she did under the influence of Mr, Houser."

Murphy said he didn't include community service in the sentence because he expected she would serve the community anyway based on her "lifetime of community service.

 

Houser if the mother of two children and the caregiver for her 93-year-old mother-in-law, according to court testimony.