Sanford pastor netted $10K in kickbacks as part of Medicare fraud scheme, court docs show

A Sanford pastor will soon be sentenced on federal charges involving illegal Medicare reimbursements.

Court documents state Pastor Daniel Owens netted more than $10,000 in kickbacks and bribes as part of a Medicare fraud scheme.

Owens is a pastor at Life Springs Dream Center in Sanford. He is also the director of the Dream Center, an affiliate of the church that combats human trafficking, addiction and homelessness.

In November 2022, Owens pleaded guilty to federal Medicare fraud charges.

Owens is set to be sentenced federally on Jan. 23. The maximum penalty for the crime is 10 years in prison.

On Thursday, Owens and Pastor Dale Sauls posted a 4-minute, six-second Facebook video to share their side of the story.

"There has been some information that has surfaced about my twin brother pastor Daniel [Owens] that has been less than flattering, to say the least," Sauls said of Owens in the video.

In the video, Sauls said Owens can't talk much about the charges.

Court documents show between January 2020 and April 2020, Owens is accused of conspiring “to offer, pay, solicit and receive illegal heath care kickback payments in exchange for the referral of patients for cancer tests that were submitted to Medicare for reimbursement.”

"We've known about that for two years," Sauls said of Owens. "He’s walked. He's cooperating with authorities. He's admitted what he did. He didn't know he was doing anything wrong."

Federal documents detail a scheme to recruit people to undergo unnecessary cancer screening tests.