FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January
5, 2022
Shantee
Orr, one of eight former NFL players who, along with an athletic trainer, are
charged with taking part in a $632,000 scheme to defraud an NFL player trust
fund by submitting false claims for medical benefits, has pleaded guilty,
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Wednesday.
The
scheme was investigated by the fraud unit of the Texas Department of Insurance
in cooperation with the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
“When
former players cheat the system, they are stealing from their former
teammates,” Ogg said. “We thank the Texas Department of Insurance for their
partnership in uncovering this scam.”
Orr,
40, a former linebacker who played with the Houston Texans from 2003-07,
pleaded guilty Wednesday to the third-degree felony charge of securing the
execution of a document, namely checks, by deception. He received $129,194. Of
that total, he has repaid $97,929 in restitution to the NFL trust account and
received five years’ probation.
In
the scheme, the remaining $31,265 Orr received went to Louis Ray, an athletic
trainer and owner of Rehab Express, a Galleria-area rehabilitation facility.
Ray faces first-degree felony charges, accused of creating fraudulent invoices
claiming to perform treatments on the players from March 7, 2016, to November
2018.
The
cases are being prosecuted by Rick Watson, a special assistant district
attorney assigned by the Texas Department of Insurance to support the Harris
County District Attorney’s Office Financial Crimes Division.
“It’s
important to go after insurance fraud at all levels,” Watson said. “When we do,
it helps protect the integrity of the system for everyone.”
Suzanne Garofalo
Communications Division, Harris County District Attorney’s
Office
