FOX 2

Missouri Rep. convicted in federal fraud case

Tricia Derges

UPDATE: Tricia Derges has been found guilty on all counts.

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – The jury has asked for additional evidence in the trial of a Missouri Representative accused of defrauding the government.

Derges represents the Nixa area at the Missouri House of Representatives. A federal grand jury indictment alleges she fraudulently received about $300,000 in federal coronavirus aid for her nonprofit medical and dental clinic serving the poor, homeless, and uninsured.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office said the Springfield organization, called Lift Up, did not provide COVID-19 testing to its patients but Derges’ medical clinics did. Derges was accused of concealing the reimbursements her clinics had already received for those services.

Other charges allege that Derges sold fake stem cell treatments at medical clinics she operates in Springfield, Branson, and Ozark – a scheme totaling about $200,000. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Derges was actually giving a sterile amniotic fluid to patients who suffered from, among other things, tissue damage, kidney disease, COPD, Lyme disease, erectile dysfunction, and urinary incontinence.