Feds push for prison time for ex-Saints player Joe Horn, who pleaded guilty to health care fraud

Federal prosecutors in Lexington, Kentucky, are recommending that former New Orleans Saints star Joe Horn spend 10 to 16 months behind bars for his role in a scheme to defraud a health care program for retired National Football League players, according to court documents.

Horn is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 10. In preparation for that hearing, prosecutors with the U.S. attorney’s office in Lexington, where the retirement program’s administrator is based, filed a memo suggesting Horn serve prison time and pay a fine because his crime was “serious and presents a need for significant deterrence.”

However, prosecutors said they favored a sentence at the low end of the range because Horn promptly accepted responsibility for receiving $149,775 for fake claims submitted through the health benefit plan in 2018, and “he has the capacity to contribute meaningfully to society without engaging in additional criminal conduct.”

The final decision will fall to U.S. District Judge Karen Caldwell, who’s already sentenced at least four other defendants in the case.

Read more: https://www.nola.com/sports/saints/article_9562076c-3369-11ec-8cac-ef810e25d9fb.html