McALLEN — Meisy Zamora was finally allowed to go home after a federal judge signed the order for her release Monday, just a few minutes before a hearing on the case in which she is accused of participating in a healthcare fraud scheme.
Zamora, along with her husband — Dr. Jorge Zamora-Quezada — and two former employees allegedly took part in a scheme to defraud health insurers by misdiagnosing and over-treating patients.
Zamora was arrested in July 2018 and has remained in custody since then after U.S. Magistrate Judge Juan F. Alanis declined to set bond for her, citing concerns she may be a flight risk.
However in August, after her attorney, Christopher Sully, asked the judge to reconsider, Alanis decided to revoke the order, keeping Zamora behind bars, stating there were conditions that could be set to ensure her future appearance in court.
Alanis set a $250,000 bond with a $25,000 deposit. U.S. District Judge Ricardo H. Hinojosa, who reaffirmed her release upon appeal, raised the required deposit amount to $40,000.
Zamora will be subject to GPS monitoring and will be under home detention at all times except to attend her 14-year-old daughter’s school activities.
Alanis also ordered that Zamora be appointed a third-party custodian and restricted Zamora’s travel to Hidalgo County, but prohibited her from going to any of her husband’s medical clinics.
She is also prohibited from possessing or having access to medical records from those clinics or working in a healthcare-related business.
Another requirement that an individual with assets worth at least $210,000 — the amount after the 40,000 deposit — serve as a co-surety, delayed her release after the one applicant they could find was rejected by the court for unspecified reasons.
Sully then filed a motion on Oct. 7, requesting that either the applicant be reconsidered or that the conditions be revised to allow a corporate co-surety.
On Oct. 17, Alanis signed a motion agreeing to the latter, allowing for her release on Monday.
Before the scheduled hearing that afternoon, she entered the gallery of the courtroom through the main entrance, instead of being escorted in through a side door, and was able to sit in the gallery with two of her co-defendants who were already out on bond. Her husband, Zamora-Quezada — the only defendant in the case who has not been issued a bond — remained seated in the jury box.
Monday’s hearing, however, never began but was rescheduled for Nov. 14.
The trial was previously scheduled for Nov. 21, though it is unclear whether more time will be needed.
