SPRINGFIELD, Mo. - The U.S. Department of Justice announced on Monday that an elected Missouri state representative was indicted on federal charges for her involvement in an alleged fraud scheme in which medical clinics she owned sold fake stem cell treatments marketed as a potential cure for COVID-19.
Federal prosecutors said Patricia Derges, 63, of Nixa, Missouri, was charged in a 20-count indictment surrounding false claims she made about supposed stem cell treatments in order to benefit her clinics in southern Missouri. "This defendant abused her privileged position to enrich herself through deception," said U.S.